23. They celebrated this Passover for the Lord in Jerusalem during Josiah’s 18th year as king.
24. Josiah destroyed the mediums, wizards, the house gods, the idols, and all the horrible things people worshiped in Judah and Jerusalem. He did this to obey the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the Lord’S Temple.
25. There had never been a king like Josiah before. Josiah turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength. No king had followed all the Law of Moses like Josiah. And there has never been another king like Josiah since that time.
26. But the Lord did not stop being angry with the people of Judah. He was still angry with them for everything that Manasseh had done.
27. The Lord said, “I forced the Israelites to leave their land. I will do the same to Judah. I will take Judah out of my sight. I will not accept Jerusalem. Yes, I chose that city. I was talking about Jerusalem when I said, ‘My name will be there.’ But I will destroy the Temple that is in that place.”
28. All the other things that Josiah did are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah.
29. While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Neco, the king of Egypt, went to fight against the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. Josiah went out to meet Neco at Megiddo. Pharaoh saw Josiah and killed him.
30. Josiah’s officers put his body in a chariot and carried him from Megiddo to Jerusalem. They buried Josiah in his own grave. Then the common people took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and anointed him. They made Jehoahaz the new king.
31. Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He ruled three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.