1Josiah causeth a solemn passover to be kept. 20He goeth to fight with Pharaoh-necho, and is slain in battle at Megiddo. 25The lamentations made for him. 26His acts.
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1Moreover 1Josiah kept a passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the 2fourteenth day of the first month.
2And he set the priests in their charges, and 1encouraged them to the service of the house of the Lord,
3And said unto the Levites 1that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the Lord, 2Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: 3serve now the Lord your God, and his people Israel,
4And prepare yourselves1by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the 2writing of David king of Israel, and according to the 3writing of Solomon his son.
5And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of athe families of the fathers of byour brethren the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites.
6So kill the passover, and 1sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
7And Josiah agave 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: these were of the king's substance.
8And 1his princes agave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: 2Hilkiah and 3Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen.
91Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, agave unto the Levites for passover offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.
10So the service was prepared, and the priests 1stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king's commandment.
11And they killed the passover, and the priests 1sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the 2Levites flayed them.
12And they 1removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the 2families of the people, to offer unto the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.
13And they 1roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and adivided them speedily among all the people.
14And afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron 1were 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 Asaph were in their aplace, 1according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the porters 2waited 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 apresent 1kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.
18And there 1was 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 1the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.
20¶ After 1all this, when Josiah had prepared the atemple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against 2Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.
21But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What 1have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against athe house wherewith I have war: for 2God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.
22Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but 1disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from 2the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of 3Megiddo.
23And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore awounded.
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 1died, and was buried ain one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And 2all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
25¶ And Jeremiah 1lamented for Josiah: and all the 2singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
26Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his agoodness, according to that which was written in the law of the Lord,
27And 1his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.