1Josiah celebrated the Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem. They sacrificed the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in their service at Yahweh’s temple.
3He said to the Levites, who taught all Israel and were dedicated to Yahweh, “Put the holy ark in the temple that Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, built. It will no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve Yahweh your God and his people Israel.
4Prepare yourselves by your ancestral families and divisions, according to what David, king of Israel, and Solomon, his son, wrote.
5Stand in the holy place according to the divisions of your ancestral families, your brothers, the common people. Let there be a portion for each ancestral family of the Levites.
6Sacrifice the Passover lambs, purify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do what Yahweh commanded through Moses.”
7Josiah gave to the people from his own flocks lambs and young goats, all for the Passover offerings, for all who were present. There were thirty thousand lambs and goats, and three thousand bulls. These came from the king’s wealth.
8His officials also gave freewill offerings to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the leaders of God’s house, gave the priests two thousand six hundred small livestock and three hundred cattle for the Passover offerings.
9Also, Conaniah, Shemaiah, Nethanel, his brothers, Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, who were the leaders of the Levites, gave 5,000 small animals and 500 cattle to the Levites for the Passover offerings.
10So the worship service was prepared. The priests stood in their assigned places, and the Levites were in their divisions, just as the king had commanded.
11They sacrificed the Passover animals. The priests sprinkled the blood they received from the Levites' hands, and the Levites skinned the animals.
12They set aside the animals for the burnt offerings, distributing them among the family groups of the people to be offered to Yahweh, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle.
13They roasted the Passover sacrifices over fire as required. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans, and quickly distributed them to all the people.
14Afterward, they prepared meals for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were busy offering burnt sacrifices and fat portions until night. So the Levites prepared meals for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
15The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were in their designated spots, following the instructions of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the king’s prophet. The gatekeepers were at every gate. They didn’t need to leave their work, because their fellow Levites prepared food for them.
16So all the preparations for the Lord’s service were made that same day to celebrate the Passover and to offer burnt sacrifices on the Lord’s altar, just as King Josiah had commanded.
17The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.
18No Passover like this had been celebrated in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated a Passover like the one Josiah celebrated with the priests, the Levites, all of Judah and Israel who were present, and the residents of Jerusalem.
19This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.
20After all of this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, King Neco of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates River, and Josiah went out to oppose him.
21But Neco sent messengers to Josiah, saying, “What do I have to do with you, king of Judah? I am not coming to fight you today, but rather the kingdom I am at war with. God has commanded me to hurry. Be careful, because God is with me, and he might destroy you.”
22Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn back from him. Instead, he disguised himself to fight him and did not listen to Neco’s words, which were from God. He went to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
23The archers shot at King Josiah. The king said to his servants, “Take me away, because I am badly wounded!”
24So his servants took him out of his chariot, put him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem. He died there and was buried in his ancestors’ tombs. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
25Jeremiah composed a lament for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women still speak of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made it a custom in Israel. Indeed, these laments are written in the Book of Laments.
26The rest of Josiah’s actions, and the good deeds he performed, are written according to what is in the Law of Yahweh,
27and his actions, from first to last, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.