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2 Chronicles 35

New International Reader’s Version



1 Josiah celebrated the Passover Feast in Jerusalem to honour the LORD. The Passover lamb was killed on the 14th day of the first month. 2 Josiah appointed the priests to their duties. He cheered them up as they served the LORD at his temple. 3 The Levites taught all the people of Israel. The Levites had been set apart to the LORD. Josiah said to them, ‘Put the sacred ark of the covenant in the temple Solomon built. He was the son of David and king of Israel. The ark must not be carried around on your shoulders. Serve the LORD your God. Serve his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves by families in your groups. Do it based on the directions written by David, the king of Israel, and by his son Solomon. 5 ‘Stand at the temple. Stand there with a group of Levites for each group of families among your people. 6 Kill the Passover lambs. Set yourselves apart to the LORD. Prepare the lambs for your people. Do what the LORD commanded through Moses.’ 7 Josiah provided animals for the Passover offerings. He gave them for all the people who were there. He gave a total of 30,000 lambs and goats and 3,000 oxen. He gave all of them from his own possessions. 8 His officials also gave freely. They gave to the people and the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel were in charge of God’s temple. They gave the priests 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 oxen. 9 Konaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel also gave offerings. So did Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad. All of them were the leaders of the Levites. They gave 5,000 Passover lambs and 500 oxen for the Levites. 10 The Passover service was arranged. The priests stood in their places. The Levites were in their groups. That’s what the king had ordered. 11 The Passover lambs were killed. The priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to them. The Levites skinned the animals. 12 They set the burnt offerings to one side. These offerings were for the smaller family groups to offer to the LORD. That’s what was written in the Book of Moses. The Levites did the same thing with the oxen. 13 They cooked the Passover animals over the fire, just as the law required. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, large kettles and pans. They served the offerings quickly to all the people. 14 After that, they got things ready for themselves and the priests. That’s because the priests, who were from the family line of Aaron, were busy until dark. They were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat parts. The Levites got things ready for themselves and for the priests, who belonged to Aaron’s family line. 15 Those who played music were from the family line of Asaph. They were in the places that had been set up by David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun. Jeduthun had been the king’s prophet. The guards at each gate didn’t have to leave their places. That’s because their brother Levites got things ready for them. 16 So at that time the entire service to honour the LORD was carried out. The Passover Feast was celebrated. The burnt offerings were sacrificed on the LORD’s altar. That’s what King Josiah had ordered. 17 The Israelites who were there celebrated the Passover Feast at that time. They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 18 The Passover Feast hadn’t been observed like that in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated a Passover Feast like Josiah’s. He celebrated it with the priests and Levites. All the people of Judah and Israel were there along with the people of Jerusalem. He celebrated it with them too. 19 That Passover Feast was celebrated in the 18th year of Josiah’s rule. 



20 Josiah had put the temple in order. After all of that, Necho went up to fight at Carchemish. He was king of Egypt. Carchemish was on the River Euphrates. Josiah marched out to meet Necho in battle. 21 But Necho sent messengers to him. They said, ‘Josiah king of Judah, there isn’t any trouble between you and me. I’m not attacking you at this time. I’m at war with another country. God told me to hurry. He’s with me. So stop opposing him. If you don’t, he’ll destroy you.’ 22 But Josiah wouldn’t turn away from Necho. Josiah wore different clothes so people wouldn’t recognise him. He wanted to go to war against Necho. He wouldn’t listen to what God had commanded Necho to say. Instead, Josiah went out to fight him on the plains of Megiddo. 23 Men who had bows shot arrows at King Josiah. After he was hit, he told his officers, ‘Take me away. I’m badly wounded.’ 24 So they took him out of his chariot. They put him in his other chariot. They brought him to Jerusalem. There he died. He was buried in the tombs of his family. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him. 25 Jeremiah wrote songs of sadness about Josiah. To this day all the male and female singers remember Josiah by singing those songs. That became a practice in Israel. The songs are written down in the Book of the Songs of Sadness. 26 Josiah did many things that showed he was faithful to the LORD. Those things and the other events of Josiah’s rule were in keeping with what is written in the Law of the LORD. 27 All the events from beginning to end are written down. They are written in the records of the kings of Israel and Judah. 

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2 Chronicles 35

English Standard Version



1 Josiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. (Ex 12:6; 2Ki 23:21; Ezr 6:19) 2 He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. (2Ch 29:11) 3 And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. (Le 10:11; De 33:10; 2Ch 15:3; 2Ch 17:9; 2Ch 30:22; Ezr 7:10; Ne 8:7; Ne 8:9; Mal 2:7) 4 Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses by your divisions, as prescribed in the writing of David king of Israel and the document of Solomon his son. (1Ch 9:9; 2Ch 8:14) 5 And stand in the Holy Place according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of your brothers the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by fathers’ household. (Ezr 6:18; Ps 134:1) 6 And slaughter the Passover lamb, and consecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the Lord by[1] Moses.” (2Ch 29:5) 7 Then Josiah contributed to the lay people, as Passover offerings for all who were present, lambs and young goats from the flock to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 bulls; these were from the king’s possessions. (2Ch 31:3) 8 And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 bulls. (2Ch 34:9; 2Ch 34:14) 9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 bulls. 10 When the service had been prepared for, the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command. (2Ch 30:16; Ezr 6:18) 11 And they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests threw the blood that they received from them while the Levites flayed the sacrifices. (2Ch 29:22; 2Ch 29:34; 2Ch 30:15; Ezr 6:20) 12 And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of the lay people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls. 13 And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the rule; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the lay people. (Ex 12:8; De 16:7; 1Sa 2:13) 14 And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them. (1Sa 9:9; 1Ch 9:17; 1Ch 26:1) 16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. 17 And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. (2Ch 30:21) 18 No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (2Ki 23:22) 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept. 



20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him. (2Ki 23:29; Jer 46:2) 21 But he sent envoys to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you.” 22 Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight in the plain of Megiddo. (Jud 5:19; 1Ki 22:30) 23 And the archers shot King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” (1Ki 22:34) 24 So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. (Zec 12:11) 25 Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments. (2Sa 1:17; 2Sa 19:35; Ezr 2:65; Ne 7:67; La 4:20; Mt 9:23) 26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds according to what is written in the Law of the Lord, 27 and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 

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