1 Esdras 1:23-33

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

²³ After all these acts of Josiah, it happened that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, went to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him.^{(A) 24} And the king of Egypt sent word to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, O king of Judea? ²⁵ I was not sent against you by the Lord God, for my war is at the Euphrates. And now the Lord is with me! The Lord is with me, urging me on! Stand aside, and do not oppose the Lord.”^(B)

²⁶ Josiah, however, did not turn back to his chariot but tried to fight with him and did not heed the words of the prophet Jeremiah from the mouth of the Lord. ²⁷ He joined battle with him in the plain of Megiddo, and the commanders came down against King Josiah. ²⁸ The king said to his servants, “Take me away from the battle, for I am very weak.” And immediately his servants took him out of the line of battle. ²⁹ He got into his second chariot, and after he was brought back to Jerusalem he died and was buried in the tomb of his ancestors.

³⁰ In all Judea they mourned for Josiah. The prophet Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and the principal men, with the women,^[a] have made lamentation for him to this day; it was ordained that this should always be done throughout the whole people of Israel.^{(C) 31} These things are written in the book of the histories of the kings of Judea, and every one of the acts of Josiah and his splendor and his understanding of the law of the Lord and the things that he had done before and these that are now told are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

The Last Kings of Judah

³² The people of the nation took Jeconiah son of Josiah, who was twenty-three years old, and made him king in succession to his father Josiah.^{(D) 33} He reigned three months in Judah^[b] and Jerusalem. Then the king of Egypt deposed him from reigning in Jerusalem