2 Chronicles
35
- Josiah celebrated the Passover to the LORD
in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day
of the first month.
- He appointed the priests to their duties
and encouraged them in the service of the LORD'S temple.
- He said to the Levites, who instructed all
Israel and who had been consecrated to the LORD: "Put the sacred ark
in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to
be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people
Israel.
- Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions,
according to the directions written by David king of Israel and by his son
Solomon.
- "Stand in the holy place with a group
of Levites for each subdivision of the families of your fellow countrymen,
the lay people.
- Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate
yourselves and prepare the lambs for your fellow countrymen, doing what the
LORD commanded through Moses."
- Josiah provided for all the lay people who
were there a total of thirty thousand sheep and goats for the Passover offerings,
and also three thousand cattle--all from the king's own possessions.
- His officials also contributed voluntarily
to the people and the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel,
the administrators of God's temple, gave the priests twenty-six hundred Passover
offerings and three hundred cattle.
- Also Conaniah along with Shemaiah and Nethanel,
his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites,
provided five thousand Passover offerings and five hundred head of cattle
for the Levites.
- The service was arranged and the priests
stood in their places with the Levites in their divisions as the king had
ordered.
- The Passover lambs were slaughtered, and
the priests sprinkled the blood handed to them, while the Levites skinned
the animals.
- They set aside the burnt offerings to give
them to the subdivisions of the families of the people to offer to the LORD,
as is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle.
- They roasted the Passover animals over the
fire as prescribed, and boiled the holy offerings in pots, caldrons and pans
and served them quickly to all the people.
- After this, they made preparations for themselves
and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were sacrificing
the burnt offerings and the fat portions until nightfall. So the Levites made
preparations for themselves and for the Aaronic priests.
- The musicians, the descendants of Asaph,
were in the places prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun the king's
seer. The gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their posts, because
their fellow Levites made the preparations for them.
- So at that time the entire service of the
LORD was carried out for the celebration of the Passover and the offering
of burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, as King Josiah had ordered.
- The Israelites who were present celebrated
the Passover at that time and observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven
days.
- The Passover had not been observed like
this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings
of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests,
the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem.
- This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth
year of Josiah's reign.
- After all this, when Josiah had set the
temple in order, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the
Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle.
- But Neco sent messengers to him, saying,
"What quarrel is there between you and me, O king of Judah? It is not
you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God
has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy
you."
- Josiah, however, would not turn away from
him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to
what Neco had said at God's command but went to fight him on the plain of
Megiddo.
- Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his
officers, "Take me away; I am badly wounded."
- So they took him out of his chariot, put
him in the other chariot he had and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.
He was buried in the tombs of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned
for him.
- Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and
to this day all the men and women singers commemorate Josiah in the laments.
These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the Laments.
- The other events of Josiah's reign and his
acts of devotion, according to what is written in the Law of the LORD --
- all the events, from beginning to end, are
written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
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