Josiah Celebrates the Passover

1Josiah kept the passover to his Lord in Jerusalem; he killed the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month, 2having placed the priests according to their divisions, arrayed in their vestments, in the temple of the Lord. 3He told the Levites, the temple servants of Israel, that they should sanctify themselves to the Lord and put the holy ark of the Lord in the house that King Solomon, son of David, had built; 4and he said, ‘You need no longer carry it on your shoulders. Now worship the Lord your God and serve his people Israel; prepare yourselves by your families and kindred, 5in accordance with the directions of King David of Israel and the magnificence of his son Solomon. Stand in order in the temple according to the groupings of the ancestral houses of you Levites, who minister before your kindred the people of Israel, 6and kill the passover lamb and prepare the sacrifices for your kindred, and keep the passover according to the commandment of the Lord that was given to Moses.’

7To the people who were present Josiah gave thirty thousand lambs and kids, and three thousand calves; these were given from the king's possessions, as he promised, to the people and the priests and Levites. 8Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel,1.8 Gk Esyelus the chief officers of the temple, gave to the priests for the passover two thousand six hundred sheep and three hundred calves. 9And Jeconiah and Shemaiah and his brother Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Ochiel and Joram, captains over thousands, gave the Levites for the passover five thousand sheep and seven hundred calves.

10This is what took place. The priests and the Levites, having the unleavened bread, stood in proper order, according to kindred 11and the grouping of the ancestral houses, before the people to make the offering to the Lord as it is written in the book of Moses; this they did in the morning. 12They roasted the passover lamb with fire, as required; and they boiled the sacrifices in bronze pots and cauldrons, with a pleasing odour, 13and carried them to all the people. Afterwards they prepared the passover for themselves and for their kindred the priests, the sons of Aaron, 14because the priests were offering the fat until nightfall; so the Levites prepared it for themselves and for their kindred the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15The temple singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the arrangement made by David, and also Asaph, Zechariah, and Eddinus, who represented the king. 16The gatekeepers were at each gate; no one needed to interrupt his daily duties, for their kindred the Levites prepared the passover for them.

17So the things that had to do with the sacrifices to the Lord were accomplished that day: the passover was kept 18and the sacrifices were offered on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. 19And the people of Israel who were present at that time kept the passover and the festival of unleavened bread for seven days. 20No passover like it had been kept in Israel since the times of the prophet Samuel; 21none of the kings of Israel had kept such a passover as was kept by Josiah and the priests and Levites and the people of Judah and all of Israel who were living in Jerusalem. 22In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this passover was kept.

The End of Josiah's Reign

23And the deeds of Josiah were upright in the sight of the Lord, for his heart was full of godliness. 24In ancient times the events of his reign have been recorded—concerning those who sinned and acted wickedly towards the Lord beyond any other people or kingdom, and how they grieved the Lord1.24 Gk him deeply, so that the words of the Lord fell upon Israel.

25After all these acts of Josiah, it happened that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, went to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. 26And the king of Egypt sent word to him saying, ‘What have we to do with each other, O king of Judea? 27I was not sent against you by the Lord God, for my war is at the Euphrates. And now the Lord is with me! The Lord is with me, urging me on! Stand aside, and do not oppose the Lord.’

28Josiah, however, did not turn back to his chariot, but tried to fight with him, and did not heed the words of the prophet Jeremiah from the mouth of the Lord. 29He joined battle with him in the plain of Megiddo, and the commanders came down against King Josiah. 30The king said to his servants, ‘Take me away from the battle, for I am very weak.’ And immediately his servants took him out of the line of battle. 31He got into his second chariot; and after he was brought back to Jerusalem he died, and was buried in the tomb of his ancestors.

32In all Judea they mourned for Josiah. The prophet Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and the principal men, with the women,1.32 Or their wives have made lamentation for him to this day; it was ordained that this should always be done throughout the whole nation of Israel. 33These things are written in the book of the histories of the kings of Judea; and every one of the acts of Josiah, and his splendour, and his understanding of the law of the Lord, and the things that he had done before, and these that are now told, are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

The Last Kings of Judah

34The men of the nation took Jeconiah1.34 2 Kgs 23.30; 2 Chr 36.1 Jehoahaz son of Josiah, who was twenty-three years old, and made him king in succession to his father Josiah. 35He reigned for three months in Judah and Jerusalem. Then the king of Egypt deposed him from reigning in Jerusalem, 36and fined the nation one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold. 37The king of Egypt made his brother Jehoiakim king of Judea and Jerusalem. 38Jehoiakim put the nobles in prison, and seized his brother Zarius and brought him back from Egypt.

39Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign in Judea and Jerusalem; he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 40King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against him; he bound him with a chain of bronze and took him away to Babylon. 41Nebuchadnezzar also took some holy vessels of the Lord, and carried them away, and stored them in his temple in Babylon. 42But the things that are reported about Jehoiakim,1.42 Gk him and his uncleanness and impiety, are written in the annals of the kings.

43His son Jehoiachin1.43 Gk Jehoiakim became king in his place; when he was made king he was eighteen years old, 44and he reigned for three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 45A year later Nebuchadnezzar sent and removed him to Babylon, with the holy vessels of the Lord, 46and made Zedekiah king of Judea and Jerusalem.

The Fall of Jerusalem

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old, and he reigned for eleven years. 47He also did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not heed the words that were spoken by the prophet Jeremiah from the mouth of the Lord. 48Although King Nebuchadnezzar had made him swear by the name of the Lord, he broke his oath and rebelled; he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart and transgressed the laws of the Lord, the God of Israel. 49Even the leaders of the people and of the priests committed many acts of sacrilege and lawlessness beyond all the unclean deeds of all the nations, and polluted the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem—the temple that God had made holy. 50The God of their ancestors sent his messenger to call them back, because he wished to spare them and his dwelling-place. 51But they mocked his messengers, and whenever the Lord spoke, they scoffed at his prophets, 52until in his anger against his people because of their ungodly acts he gave command to bring against them the kings of the Chaldeans. 53These killed their young men with the sword around their holy temple, and did not spare young man or young woman,1.53 Gk virgin old man or child, for he gave them all into their hands. 54They took all the holy vessels of the Lord, great and small, the treasure-chests of the Lord, and the royal stores, and carried them away to Babylon. 55They burned the house of the Lord, broke down the walls of Jerusalem, burned their towers with fire, 56and utterly destroyed all its glorious things. The survivors he led away to Babylon with the sword, 57and they were servants to him and to his sons until the Persians began to reign, in fulfilment of the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, 58saying, ‘Until the land has enjoyed its sabbaths, it shall keep sabbath all the time of its desolation until the completion of seventy years.’