1. Moreover, Josiah kept a passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2. And he set the priests in their charges and confirmed them in the ministry of the house of the Lord
3. and said unto the Levites that 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, that ye not carry it any longer upon your shoulders; serve now the Lord your God and his people Israel
4. and prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David, king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon, his son.
5. And stand in the sanctuary according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren, the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites.
6. So kill the passover and sanctify yourselves and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
7. And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks; these were of the king’s substance.
8. And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand six hundred sheep and three hundred oxen.
9. Conaniah, likewise, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, princes of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for the sacrifices of the passover five thousand sheep, and five hundred oxen.
10. So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites, likewise, in their courses, according to the king’s commandment.
11. And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood taken from the hands of the Levites who flayed them.
12. And they took away part of the animals that they had for the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, for them to offer unto the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. And they did, likewise, with the oxen.
13. And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance, but that which had been sanctified, they cooked in pots and in caldrons and in pans and divided them speedily among all the people.
14. And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were occupied in the sacrifice of the burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore, the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.
15. Likewise, 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 porters waited at every gate; it was not necessary for them to depart from their ministry, for their brethren, the Levites, prepared for them.
16. So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day, to keep the passover and to sacrifice the burnt offerings upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of King Josiah.
17. And the sons of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time and the solemn feast of unleavened bread for seven days.
18. And there was no passover like unto that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel, the prophet; neither did any of 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, together with all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
19. In the year eighteen of the reign of Josiah, this passover was kept.
20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the house, Necho, king of Egypt, came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him.
21. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I do not come against thee this day, but against the house that makes war with me, for God commanded me to make haste. Forbear from meddling with God, who is with me, that he not destroy thee.
22. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and did not hearken unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight him in the valley of Megiddo.
23. And the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his slaves, Take me away, for I am sore wounded.
24. His slaves, 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 the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
25. And 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, which are written in the lamentations.
26. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his mercy, according to that which was written in the law of the Lord,
27. and his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.