Josiah Restores the Passover
(2 Kings 23:21-27)
1Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenthday of the first month.2And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD,3And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build;it shall notbe a burden uponyour shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel,4And prepareyourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.5And stand in the holyplace according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people, andafter the division of the families of the Levites.6So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, thatthey may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
7And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: thesewere of the king's substance.8And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand and six hundredsmall cattle, and three hundred oxen.9Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for passover offerings five thousandsmall cattle, and five hundred oxen.
10So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king's commandment.11And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkledthe blood from their hands, and the Levites flayedthem.12And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the LORD, asit is written in the book of Moses. And sodid they with the oxen.13And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but theother holyofferings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and dividedthem speedily among all the people.14And afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaronwere busied in offering of burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.15And the singers the sons of Asaphwere in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the porterswaited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.
16So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.17And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.18And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.19In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.
Josiah Slain at Megiddo
(2 Kings 23:28-30)
20After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.21But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah?I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee frommeddling with God, whois with me, that he destroy thee not.22Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.23And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.24His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried inone of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
Laments for Josiah
25And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, theyare written in the lamentations.26Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according tothat which was written in the law of the LORD,27And his deeds, first and last, behold, theyare written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
