King James Version

1 And Josiah kept Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth of the first month. 2 And the priests stood on their watches, and they strengthened themselves for the service of the house of the Lord. 3 And he said to the Levites who understood, to all Israel, the holy ones of the Lord, "Give the Ark of the Covenant into the house that Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, built. Do not carry a burden on your shoulder. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel." 4 And we prepared for your ancestral houses as your divisions in the writing of David king of Israel and in the writing of Solomon his son. 5 And they shall stand in the holy place for the divisions of the house of the fathers for your brothers, the sons of the people, and the division of the house of the Levites. 6 And they shall slaughter the Passover and they shall consecrate themselves and we shall prepare for your brothers to do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses. 7 And Josiah raised for the sons of the people sheep for the Passover, for all that were found, a number of thirty thousand and cattle three thousand; these were from the possessions of the king. 8 And the leaders of the people, Sarai, and the ones who were appointed, raised up a portion for the priests and for the Levites; they gave to the priests two thousand and six hundred and three hundred sheep for the Passover. 9 And Konaniah, and Shemaiah, and Netanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, and Jeiel, and Jehozabad, leaders of the Levites, lifted up for the Levites five thousand lambs and five hundred cattle for the Passover. 10 And the service was established, and the priests stood upon their posts, and the Levites on their divisions, according to the command of the king. 11 And they slaughtered the Passover, and the priests threw the blood from their hands, and the Levites stripped (the meat). 12 And they shall remove the burnt offering to be given to the divisions of the houses of the fathers of the sons of the people to bring near to the LORD as it is written in the book of Moses, and so for the flock. 13 And they roasted the Passover in the fire as is the law, and the holy offerings they cooked in pots and in cauldrons and in pans, and they carried them to all the children of the people. 14 And after we prepared for them and for the priests, for the priests, the sons of Aaron, upon the rising of the offering and the fat until night, and the Levites prepared for them and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15 And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were at their posts according to the command of David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, the seer of the king, and the gatekeepers were at the gates; they did not depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites had prepared for them. 16 And all the service of the Lord was prepared on that day to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. 17 And the children of Israel who were present made the Passover at that time and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 18 And there was not kept a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; and all the kings of Israel did not keep as the Passover that Josiah kept, and the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel that were found, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah, this Passover was made. 20 After all this that Josiah had prepared for the house, Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him. 21 And he sent messengers to me, saying, "What do you, king of Judah, have to do with me? You are not today in the house of war, for God has said to me to hurry; do not be with God who is with me, and do not let him destroy you." 22 And Josiah did not turn his face from him to fight, for he had disguised himself; and he did not listen to the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and he came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. 23 And the archers saw King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am severely wounded." 24 And he took him from the chariot and made him ride on the second chariot that belonged to him, and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors; and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the chief men and the women sang a lament for Josiah until this day; they established it as a statute in Israel, and behold, they are written in the laments. 26 And the rest of the words of Josiah and his acts are written in the Law of the Lord. 27 And my words, the first and the last, behold, they are written on the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.