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Josiah Observes the Passover

¹ Josiah kept^[a] the Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover sacrifice on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² And he set the priests at their posts and encouraged them in the service of the house of Yahweh. ³ And he said to the Levites who were teaching all Israel, who were sanctified to Yahweh, "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. There is no need to carry it on your shoulders. Now serve Yahweh your God and his people Israel. ⁴ And prepare yourselves according to your families,^[b] according to your working groups, according to the decree^[c] of David king of Israel and according to the decree^[d] of Solomon his son. ⁵ And stand in the sanctuary according to the clans of your families^[e] for your brothers, the lay people,^[f] and a part of the family^[g] of the Levites. ⁶ And slaughter the Passover lamb and consecrate yourself and prepare for your brothers to do according to the word of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

⁷ Then Josiah provided for the lay people^[h] sheep, lambs, and young goats, all for the Passover for all who were found there, to the sum of thirty thousand, along with three thousand bulls. These were the possession of the king. ⁸ And his officials contributed a freewill offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, commanders of the house of God, gave to the priests two thousand six hundred Passover lambs and three hundred bulls. ⁹ Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jehozabad, commanders of the Levites, contributed to the Levites five thousand Passover lambs and five hundred bulls.

¹⁰ And when the work had been completed, the priests stood at their positions and the Levites in their working groups according to the command of the king. ¹¹ And they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hand, and the Levites flayed the sacrifices. ¹² And they set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the clans of the families^[i] for the lay people,^[j] to offer to Yahweh according to what is written in the scroll of Moses. And thus they did with the bulls. ¹³ Then they roasted the Passover lamb in the fire according to the ordinance. And they boiled the holy offerings in pots, in kettles, and in dishes and brought it quickly to the lay people.^{[k] 14} And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, since the priests, the descendants^[l] of Aaron, were busy with offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night. So the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the descendants^[m] of Aaron. ¹⁵ And the singers, the descendants^[n] of Asaph, were at their stations according to the decree^[o] of David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, the seer of the king. And the gatekeepers were at each gate.^[p] They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites had made preparations for them.

¹⁶ So all the service of Yahweh was prepared on that day to keep^[q] the Passover and to sacrifice burnt offerings on the altar of Yahweh, according to the command of King Josiah. ¹⁷ And the Israelites who were present kept^[r] the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. ¹⁸ And there was no Passover like it kept^[s] in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. And none of the kings of Israel kept^[t] a Passover like that which Josiah and the priests and the Levites, and all of Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, kept.^{[u] 19} In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.^[v]

The Death of Josiah

²⁰ After all of this that Josiah had prepared for the temple,^[w] Neco the king of Egypt went up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went up to meet him. ²¹ And he^[x] sent messengers to him, saying, "What is there between us,^[y] O king of Judah? I am not against you yourself this day, but against the house making war against me. And God has commanded me to make haste. Stop opposing God, who is with me that he will not destroy you." ²² But Josiah did not turn his face from him, but he disguised himself to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and he went out to fight in the plain of Megiddo. ²³ And the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am badly wounded." ²⁴ So his servants took him out of the chariot and transported him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the burial sites of his ancestors.^[z] And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned over Josiah. ²⁵ And Jeremiah uttered a lament for Josiah, and all the male and female singers have spoken in their laments about Josiah to this day. And they made them a requirement in Israel, and behold, they are written in the laments.

²⁶ Now the remainder of the words of Josiah and his loyal love for what is written in the law of Yahweh ²⁷ and his words, from the first to the last, behold, they are written in the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah.