1Moreover Josiah kept a Passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem; and they killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day 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 who taught all Israel, who were holy unto the LORD, "Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. It shall not be a burden upon your shoulders. Serve now the LORD your God and His people Israel,
4and prepare yourselves according to the houses of your fathers by your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel and according to the writing of Solomon his son.
5And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people and according to the division of the families of the Levites.
6So kill the Passover lamb, and sanctify yourselves and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses."
7And Josiah gave to the people lambs and kids from the flock, all for the Passover offerings for all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks; these were from 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 hundred small 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 thousand small 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 lamb, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.
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, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.
13And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the ordinance; but the other holy offerings boiled they in pots and in caldrons and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the people.
14And afterward they made ready for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busied in offering 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 place, according to the commandment of David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun the king's seer. And the doorkeepers waited at every gate; they needed 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 who 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 since 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.
20After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by the 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 from meddling with God, who is 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, "Take me away, for I am sorely 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 in one of the sepulchers of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
25And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah. And all the singing men and the singing women spoke 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 goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,
27and his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.