1 Josiah kept a Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem: and they killed the
Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He set the
priests in their offices, and encouraged them to the service of the house of
Yahweh. 3 He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to
Yahweh, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of
Israel did build; there shall no more be a burden on your shoulders: now
serve Yahweh your God, and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves after
your fathers’ houses by your courses, according to the writing of David king
of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. 5 Stand in the
holy place according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of your brothers
the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a
fathers’ house of the Levites. 6 Kill the Passover, and sanctify
yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of
Yahweh by Moses. 7 Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the
flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the Passover offerings, to all who
were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls:
these were of the king’s substance. 8 His princes gave for a freewill-
offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and
Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for
the Passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and
three hundred oxen. 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 five thousand small
cattle, and five hundred oxen. 10 So the service was prepared, and the
priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their courses, according to
the king’s commandment. 11 They killed the Passover, and the priests
sprinkled the blood which they received of their hand, and the
Levites flayed them. 12 They removed the burnt offerings, that they might
give them according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of the children
of the people, to offer to Yahweh, as it is written in the book of Moses. So
did they with the oxen. 13 They roasted the Passover with fire according
to the ordinance: and the holy offerings boiled they in pots, and in
caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the
people. 14 Afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests,
because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering the
burnt offerings and the fat until night: therefore 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 commandment of David, and
Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the porters were at every
gate: they didn’t need to depart from their service; for their brothers the
Levites prepared for them. 16 So all the service of Yahweh was prepared
the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt-offerings on the altar
of Yahweh, according to the commandment of king Josiah. 17 The children of
Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of
unleavened bread seven days. 18 There was no Passover like that kept in
Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of the kings of
Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites,
and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept.
20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt
went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates: and Josiah went out
against him. 21 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do
with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you this day, but
against the house with which I have war; and God has commanded me to make
haste: forbear you from meddling with God, who is with me, that he
not destroy you. 22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him,
but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and didn’t listen to the
words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of
Megiddo. 23 The archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his
servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. 24 So his servants took him
out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and
brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the tombs of his
fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 Jeremiah lamented
for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in
their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel:
and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. 26 Now the rest of the
acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the
law of Yahweh, 27 and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written
in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
|
|