²¹ Then the king commanded all the people, saying, ^(A)“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, ^(B)as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ^22 (C)Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem. ²⁴ Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of ^(D)the law which were written in the book ^(E)that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. ^25 (F)Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.

Impending Judgment on Judah

²⁶ Nevertheless the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, ^(G)because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. ²⁷ And the Lord said, “I will also remove Judah from My sight, as ^(H)I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, ^(I)‘My name shall be there.’ ”

Josiah Dies in Battle^(J)

²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

Judgment on Philistia

47 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet ^(A)against the Philistines, ^(B)before Pharaoh attacked Gaza.

² Thus says the Lord: