1And Josiah kept the Passover in Jerusalem for his Lord, and they sacrificed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month,
2having stationed the priests according to their divisions, arrayed in vestments, in the temple of the Lord.
3And he said to the Levites, the temple servants of Israel, to sanctify themselves to the Lord by placing the holy ark of the Lord in the house that Solomon, the son of David the king, built.
4“You will no longer have to carry it on your shoulders. Now, therefore, serve the Lord your God and minister to his people Israel. Prepare yourselves according to your fathers” houses and your tribes, according to the writing of David king of Israel and according to the magnificent plan of his son Solomon.’
5“And stand in the holy place according to the division of your fathers” houses, you Levites, before your brothers the sons of Israel,
6in order, sacrifice the Passover, prepare the sacrifices for your brothers, and keep the Passover according to the command of the Lord that was given through Moses.’
7And Josiah donated to the people who were present thirty thousand lambs and kids, and three thousand calves. These were given from the king’s possessions as promised to the people, and to the priests and the Levites.
8And Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Esyelus, the overseers of the temple, gave to the priests for the Passover two thousand six hundred sheep and three hundred calves.
9And Jechonias, and Samaias and his brother Nathanael, and Sabias and Ochielus and Joram, the commanders, gave to the Levites for the Passover one thousand sheep and seven hundred calves.
10And when these things were done, the priests and the Levites stood in proper order, holding the unleavened bread, according to the tribes and the divisions of the fathers’ houses, before the people, to offer to the Lord as is written in the book of Moses; and so they did for the morning offering.
11And they roasted the Passover with fire as was required, and they boiled the holy offerings in the bronze pots and cauldrons with a pleasant aroma, and carried them to all the people.
12And after this, they prepared for themselves and for their brothers the priests, the sons of Aaron.
13For the priests were offering up the fat portions until late at night, so the Levites prepared for themselves and for their brothers the priests, the sons of Aaron.
14And the temple singers, the sons of Asaph, were at their stations according to the arrangements of David, along with Asaph, Zechariah, and Eddeinous, who were from the king.
15And the gatekeepers were at each gate; no one was permitted to leave his post, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.
16So the service of the Lord’s sacrifice was completed on that day, keeping the Passover and offering the sacrifices on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah.
17And the sons of Israel who were present at that time kept the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.
18Such a Passover had not been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet.
19And none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests, and the Levites, and the Judeans, and all Israel who were found present in Jerusalem.
20In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign this Passover was kept.
21And the works of Josiah were upright before his Lord, with a heart full of godliness.
22And the things concerning him are recorded from former times—concerning those who had sinned and acted impiously against the Lord more than any nation or kingdom, and how they grieved him. And the words of the Lord were established against Israel.
23Now after all these acts of Josiah, it happened that Pharaoh king of Egypt came up to wage war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him.
24And the king of Egypt sent a message to him, saying, “What business is there between you and me, O king of Judea?”
25“I was not sent against you by the Lord God, for my war is on the Euphrates. And now the Lord is with me, urging me on. Stand aside and do not oppose the Lord.”
26But Josiah did not turn back to his chariot; instead, he tried to fight him, not heeding the words of Jeremiah the prophet from the mouth of the Lord.
27Instead, he joined battle with him in the plain of Megiddo, and the commanders came down against King Josiah.
28And the king said to his servants, “Take me away from the battle, for I am gravely wounded.” And his servants immediately took him away from the battle line.
29And he mounted his second chariot; and after he was brought back to Jerusalem, he died and was buried in his ancestral tomb.
30And all Judea mourned for Josiah. Jeremiah the prophet lamented for Josiah, and the leaders along with the women have lamented him to this day; and this was established as a perpetual ordinance for the whole nation of Israel.
31Now these things are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judea, along with the detailed account of Josiah’s acts, his glory, and his understanding in the law of the Lord. His deeds, both past and present, are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
32And the people of the nation took Jeconiah the son of Josiah and made him king in place of Josiah his father, when he was twenty-three years old.
33He reigned over Judah and Jerusalem for three months. Then the king of Egypt deposed him from reigning in Jerusalem
34and imposed a tribute on the nation of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.
35And the king of Egypt appointed Jehoiakim his brother as king of Judea and Jerusalem.
36And Jehoiakim bound the nobles; and seizing Zarius his brother, he brought him up from Egypt.
37Now Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judea and Jerusalem, and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
38And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and he bound him with a bronze chain and led him away to Babylon.
39And Nebuchadnezzar took some of the sacred vessels of the Lord, and carrying them away, he deposited them in his temple in Babylon.
40Now the things recorded about him, and his impurity and impiety, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings.
41And Jehoiakim his son reigned in his place. For when he was appointed, he was eight years old.
42And he reigned in Jerusalem for three months and ten days, and he did what was evil before the Lord.
43And after a year, Nebuchadnezzar sent and removed him to Babylon, along with the sacred vessels of the Lord,
44and appointed Zedekiah king of Judea and Jerusalem. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old, and he reigned for eleven years.
45And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he did not heed the words spoken by Jeremiah the prophet from the mouth of the Lord.
46And though he had been put under oath by King Nebuchadnezzar in the name of the Lord, he broke his oath and rebelled. And hardening his neck and his heart, he transgressed the laws of the Lord, the God of Israel.
47And the leaders of the people and of the priests also acted very impiously and lawlessly, beyond all the impurities of all the nations, and they defiled the temple of the Lord that had been consecrated in Jerusalem.
48And the King of their fathers sent his messenger to call them back, because he had compassion on them and on his dwelling place.
49But they mocked his messengers, and on the day the Lord spoke, they ridiculed his prophets, until he, being angry with his nation for their impieties, commanded the kings of the Chaldeans to be brought up against them.
50These killed their young men with the sword around the holy temple, and they did not spare young man or virgin, old man or youth; but all were delivered into their hands.
51And taking all the sacred vessels of the Lord, both great and small, and the treasure chests of the Lord and the royal treasuries, they carried them away to Babylon.
52And they set fire to the house of the Lord, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, and burned its towers with fire.
53And they brought all its glorious things to ruin. And the remnant he led away with the sword to Babylon.
54And they were servants to him and to his sons until the Persians began to reign, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah:
55“Until the land has enjoyed its sabbaths, it shall keep sabbath all the time of its desolation, for the completion of seventy years.”
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