Read the Bible

¹ Yoshiyahu kept Pesach to Adonai in Yerushalayim. They slaughtered the Pesach lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² He assigned the cohanim to their posts and encouraged them to perform the service of the house of Adonai. ³ To the L'vi'im who were teaching all Isra'el and were holy for Adonai he said, "Put the holy ark in the house which Shlomo the son of David, king of Isra'el, built; after this, you will not have to carry it again. Now serve Adonai your God and his people Isra'el. ⁴ Organize yourselves by clans and duty divisions according to the arrangement written down by David king of Isra'el and Shlomo his son. ⁵ Stand in the Holy Place according to the divisions of the clans of your kinsmen the ordinary people, with part of a clan of L'vi'im serving each clan [of Isra'el]. ⁶ Then slaughter the Pesach lamb, consecrate yourselves, prepare what your kinsmen need, and act according to the word of Adonai given through Moshe."

⁷ Yoshiyahu gave the ordinary people, to all who were present, 30,000 lambs and kids from the flock, all of them for Pesach offerings, and 3,000 bulls. These were from the king's personal property. ⁸ Also his leading men voluntarily gave to the people and to the cohanim and L'vi'im. Hilkiyah, Z'kharyahu and Yechi'el, the rulers of the house of God, gave the cohanim 2,600 [lambs and kids] and 300 oxen for Pesach offerings. ⁹ Konanyah, his brothers Sh'ma‘yah and N'tan'el, and Hashavyah, Ye‘i'el and Yozavad, the head L'vi'im, gave the L'vi'im 5,000 [lambs and kids] and 500 oxen for Pesach offerings.

¹⁰ So the service was prepared; the cohanim stood at their posts; and the L'vi'im worked in their divisions, in keeping with the king's order. ¹¹ They slaughtered the Pesach lamb; the cohanim splashed [the blood, which they received from the L'vi'im], and the L'vi'im skinned and butchered them. ¹² They removed the portions to be burned, in order to give them to the divisions of the clans of the ordinary people to present to Adonai, as written in the scroll of Moshe. They did the same with the oxen. ¹³ They roasted the Pesach lamb over fire, according to the rule; while they boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles and pans and carried them quickly to all the ordinary people. ¹⁴ Afterwards, they prepared food for themselves and for the cohanim; because the cohanim, the descendants of Aharon, were busy till nightfall offering the fat and the portions to be burned up; this is why the L'vi'im prepared food both for themselves and for the cohanim the descendants of Aharon.

¹⁵ The singers the sons of Asaf were at their posts, as ordered by David — Asaf, Heman and Y'dutun the king's seer. The gatekeepers were at every gate, and they did not need to leave their posts, because their brothers the L'vi'im prepared [food] for them.

¹⁶ Thus all the service of Adonai was prepared the same day for observing Pesach and offering burnt offerings on the altar of Adonai, in accordance with the order of King Yoshiyahu. ¹⁷ The people of Isra'el who were present observed the Pesach at that time and the festival of Matzot for seven days. ¹⁸ No Pesach like that had been kept in Isra'el since the days of Sh'mu'el the prophet, and none of the kings of Isra'el observe a Pesach such as Yoshiyahu observed, with the cohanim, L'vi'im, all Y'hudah, those of Isra'el who were present, and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim. ¹⁹ This Pesach was observed in the eighteenth year of Yoshiyahu.

²⁰ After all this, and after Yoshiyahu had restored the house, N'kho king of Egypt went up to attack Kark'mish by the Euphrates River. King Yoshiyahu went out to oppose him; ²¹ but N'kho sent envoys to him with this message: "Do I have a conflict with you, king of Y'hudah? No, I am not coming today to attack you, but to attack the dynasty with whom I am at war. God has ordered to speed me along; so don't meddle with God, who is with me; so that he won't destroy you." ²² Nevertheless, Yoshiyahu was determined to go after him. He disguised himself in order to fight against him and wouldn't listen to what N'kho said, which was from the mouth of God. Then he went to fight in the Megiddo Valley. ²³ There archers shot King Yoshiyahu. The king said to his servants, "Take me away, because I'm badly wounded." ²⁴ So his servants took him out of the chariot, transferred him to his second chariot and brought him to Yerushalayim. But he died, and he was buried in the tombs of his ancestors. All Y'hudah and Yerushalayim mourned Yoshiyahu. ²⁵ Yirmeyahu composed a lament for Yoshiyahu; and all the men and women singers have sung of Yoshiyahu in their laments till this day. They made singing them a law in Isra'el, and they are recorded in the Laments.

²⁶ Other activities of Yoshiyahu and all his good deeds in keeping with what is written in the Torah of Adonai, ²⁷ also his accomplishments from beginning to end, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Isra'el and Y'hudah.