2 Kings 23:21-33

New Living Translation

Josiah Celebrates Passover

²¹ King Josiah then issued this order to all the people: “You must celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as required in this Book of the Covenant.” ²² There had not been a Passover celebration like that since the time when the judges ruled in Israel, nor throughout all the years of the kings of Israel and Judah. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.

²⁴ Josiah also got rid of the mediums and psychics, the household gods, the idols,^[a] and every other kind of detestable practice, both in Jerusalem and throughout the land of Judah. He did this in obedience to the laws written in the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the Lord’s Temple. ²⁵ Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since.

²⁶ Even so, the Lord was very angry with Judah because of all the wicked things Manasseh had done to provoke him. ²⁷ For the Lord said, “I will also banish Judah from my presence just as I have banished Israel. And I will reject my chosen city of Jerusalem and the Temple where my name was to be honored.”

²⁸ The rest of the events in Josiah’s reign and all his deeds are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah.

²⁹ While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, went to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah and his army marched out to fight him,^[b] but King Neco^[c] killed him when they met at Megiddo. ³⁰ Josiah’s officers took his body back in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land anointed Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and made him the next king.

Jehoahaz Rules in Judah

³¹ Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah. ³² He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestors had done.

³³ Pharaoh Neco put Jehoahaz in prison at Riblah in the land of Hamath to prevent him from ruling^[d] in Jerusalem. He also demanded that Judah pay 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold^[e] as tribute.