1 Josiah celebrated a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem; the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2 He assigned the priests to their duties and strengthened them for the service of the house of the LORD.
3 He told the Levites, who instructed all Israel and were set apart to the LORD, "Place the holy ark in the house built by Solomon son of David, king of Israel. It is no longer a load for your shoulders. Serve the LORD your God and his people Israel now.
4 Get yourselves ready by fathers' houses in your divisions, as directed in writing by David king of Israel and by his son Solomon.
5 Take your stand in the holy place, by the family groups of your brothers, the lay people, so that each has a share of a Levitical father's house.
6 Slaughter the Passover lamb, sanctify yourselves, and make preparations for your brothers, acting by the word of the LORD given through Moses."
7 Josiah then supplied the lay people, all who were there, with flock animals, thirty thousand lambs and young goats for the Passover offerings, as well as three thousand bulls; these came from the king's own property.
8 His officials also gave willingly to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the officers of God's house, gave the priests two thousand six hundred Passover animals and three hundred bulls.
9 And Conaniah, with his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, provided the Levites with five thousand Passover animals and five hundred bulls.
10 When the service was ready, the priests took their places and the Levites their divisions, as the king had ordered.
11 They slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests splashed the blood handed to them while the Levites did the skinning.
12 They set aside the burnt offerings to distribute to the family groups of the lay people, to present to the LORD as written in the book of Moses; and they did the same with the bulls.
13 They roasted the Passover lamb over the fire as prescribed and boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans, then hurried them out to all the lay people.
14 After that they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, since the priests, Aaron's descendants, were busy until nightfall offering burnt offerings and fat; so the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, Aaron's descendants.
15 The singers, Asaph's descendants, were at their posts as David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer had ordered, and the gatekeepers were at every gate. They did not have to leave their duties, because their brothers the Levites made preparations for them.
16 So the whole service of the LORD was carried out that day, celebrating the Passover and offering burnt offerings on the LORD's altar, as King Josiah had ordered.
17 The children of Israel who were there celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.
18 No Passover like this one 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 Judah and Israel who were present, and the people of Jerusalem.
19 This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign.
20 After all this, when Josiah had restored the temple, Neco king of Egypt marched up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to confront him.
21 Neco sent messengers to him saying, "What quarrel is there between you and me, king of Judah? I am not marching against you today, but against the house I am at war with, and God has told me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you."
22 But Josiah would not turn back from him; he disguised himself to fight him. He paid no attention to Neco's words from God's mouth, but went to fight on the plain of Megiddo.
23 Archers shot King Josiah, and the king told his servants, "Get me away from here, I am badly wounded."
24 His servants lifted him out of his chariot, put him in his second chariot, and took him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in his fathers' tombs, and all Judah and Jerusalem grieved for Josiah.
25 Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the singing men and singing women speak of Josiah in their laments. They made this a custom in Israel, and the laments are written in the Laments.
26 The rest of Josiah's deeds and his good deeds, in keeping with what is written in the law of the LORD,
27 and his deeds from beginning to end, are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.