(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 1 Josiah celebrated the Passover for the LORD in Jerusalem. The Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 2 Josiah appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them to serve in the LORD's temple.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 3 He told the Levites, who instructed all Israel and performed ceremonies to make themselves holy to the LORD, "Put the holy ark in the temple that Solomon, son of David and king of Israel, built. It shouldn't be carried on your shoulders any longer. Serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 4 Get yourselves ready with the family groups of your divisions, which are listed in the records of King David of Israel and the records of his son Solomon.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 5 Stand in the holy place representing the family divisions of your relatives, the people [of Israel]. Let the Levites be considered a part of each family.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 6 Slaughter the Passover lamb, perform the ceremonies to make yourselves holy, and prepare [the lambs] for the other Israelites as the LORD instructed [us] through Moses."
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 7 Josiah provided the people with 33,000 sheep and goats to be sacrificed as Passover offerings for all who were present. In addition, he provided 3,000 bulls. (These animals were the king's property.)
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 8 His officials also voluntarily gave animals to the people, priests, and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the men in charge of God's temple, gave the priests 2,600 sheep and goats and 300 bulls for Passover sacrifices.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 9 Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, gave the Levites 5,000 sheep and goats and 500 bulls as Passover sacrifices.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 10 So the service was prepared. The priests took their positions with the Levites according to their divisions, as the king had ordered.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 11 They slaughtered the Passover lambs. The priests sprinkled the blood with their hands while the Levites skinned the lambs.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 12 They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the laypeople according to their family divisions. The laypeople could then present them to the LORD as written in the Book of Moses. The Levites did the same with the bulls.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 13 They roasted the Passover lambs according to the directions. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans and immediately served them to all the people.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 14 Later, they prepared [the animals] for themselves and for the priests because the priests (Aaron's descendants) were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat until that evening. So the Levites prepared [the animals] for themselves and the priests.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 15 The singers (Asaph's descendants) were in their places as David, Asaph, Heman, and the king's seer Jeduthun had commanded. The gatekeepers were stationed at each gate. They didn't need to leave their work, because their relatives, the Levites, prepared [animals] for them.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 16 So everything was arranged that day for the worship of the LORD. The Passover was celebrated, and the burnt offerings were sacrificed on the LORD's altar as King Josiah had commanded.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 17 The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time. They also celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 18 Never had a Passover like this been celebrated in Israel during the time of the prophet Samuel or the kings of Israel. They did not celebrate the Passover as Josiah celebrated it with priests, Levites, all of Judah, the people of Israel who could be found, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 19 In the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, this Passover was celebrated.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 20 After all this, when Josiah had repaired the temple, King Neco of Egypt came to fight a battle at Carchemish at the Euphrates River. Josiah went to attack him.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 21 But Neco sent messengers to Josiah to say, "What's your quarrel with me, king of Judah? I'm not attacking you. I've come to fight those who are at war with me. God told me to hurry. God is with me, so stop now or else he will destroy you."
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 22 But Josiah would not stop his attack. He disguised himself as he went into battle. He refused to listen to Neco's words, which came from God, and he went to fight in the valley of Megiddo.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 23 Some archers shot King Josiah. The king told his officers, "Take me away because I'm badly wounded."
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 24 His officers took him out of the chariot and brought him to Jerusalem in his other chariot. He died and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 25 Jeremiah sang a funeral song about Josiah. All the male and female singers still sing funeral songs about Josiah today. This became a tradition in Israel. They are written in [the Book of] the Funeral Songs.
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 26 Everything else about Josiah-including his devotion to God by following what is written in the LORD's Teachings
(GWT) 2 Chronicles 35 : 27 and his acts from first to last-are written in the records of the kings of Israel and Judah.