Then Josiah ^acelebrated the Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and ^bthey slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their offices and ^aencouraged them in the service of the house of the LORD. 3 He also said to ^athe Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built; ^bit will not be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel. 4 ^aPrepare yourselves by your fathers’ households in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel and ^baccording to the writing of his son Solomon. 5 Furthermore, ^astand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers’ households of your countrymen, the ¹lay people, and according to the Levites, by division of a father’s household. 6 Now ^aslaughter the Passover animals, ^bkeep one another consecrated, and prepare for your countrymen to act in accordance with the word of the LORD by Moses.”

7 Josiah contributed to the lay people, to all who were present, flocks of lambs and young goats, all for the Passover offerings, numbering thirty thousand, plus three thousand bulls; these were from the king’s property. 8 His officers also contributed a ¹voluntary offering to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, ^athe officials of the house of God, gave the priests 2,600 from the flocks and three hundred bulls, for the Passover offerings. 9 ^aConaniah also, and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the officers of the Levites, contributed five thousand from the flocks and five hundred bulls to the Levites for the Passover offerings.

10 So the service was prepared, and ^athe priests stood at their positions and the Levites by their divisions according to the king’s command. 11 ^1aThey slaughtered the Passover animals, and while ^bthe priests ²sprinkled the blood received from their hand, ^cthe Levites skinned the animals. 12 Then they removed the burnt offerings so that they might give them to the sections of the fathers’ households of the lay people to present to the LORD, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did this with the bulls as well. 13 So ^athey roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled ^bthe holy things in pots, in kettles, and in pans and carried them quickly to all the lay people. 14 Afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also at their positions ^aaccording to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and ^bthe gatekeepers at each gate did not have to leave their service, because their kinsmen the Levites prepared for them.

16 So all the service of the LORD was prepared on that day to celebrate the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD according to the command of King Josiah. 17 And ^athe sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 18 ^aThere had not been a Passover celebrated like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign this Passover was celebrated.

20 ^aAfter all this, when Josiah had set the ¹temple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to wage war at ^bCarchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him. 21 But ¹Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “^2aWhat business do you have with me, King of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the house with which I am at war, and God has told me to hurry. For your own sake, stop interfering with God who is with me, so that He does not destroy you.” 22 However, Josiah would not turn ¹away from him, but ^adisguised himself in order to fight against him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco ^bfrom the mouth of God, but he came to wage war on the plain of ^cMegiddo. 23 The archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” 24 So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him on the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem ¹where he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. ^aAll Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 Then ^aJeremiah chanted a song of mourning for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their songs of mourning to this day. And they made them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are also written in the Lamentations. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion as written in the Law of the LORD, 27 and his acts, the first to the last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.