The Passover Held Again

35 Then Josiah ^(A)celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and ^(B)they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² He appointed the priests to their offices and ^(C)encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. ³ He also said to ^(D)the 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; ^(E)it will not be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel. ^4 (F)Prepare yourselves by your fathers’ households in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel and ^(G)according to the writing of his son Solomon. ⁵ Furthermore, ^(H)stand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers’ households of your countrymen, the ^[a]lay people, and according to the Levites, by division of a father’s household. ⁶ Now ^(I)slaughter the Passover animals, ^(J)keep 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 ^[b]voluntary offering to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, ^(K)the officials of the house of God, gave the priests 2,600 from the flocks and three hundred bulls, for the Passover offerings. ^9 (L)Conaniah 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 ^(M)the priests stood at their positions and the Levites by their divisions according to the king’s command. ^11 [c](N)They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while ^(O)the priests ^[d]sprinkled the blood received from their hand, ^(P)the 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 ^(Q)they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled ^(R)the 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 ^(S)according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and ^(T)the 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 ^(U)the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. ^18 (V)There 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.

Josiah Dies in Battle

^20 (W)After all this, when Josiah had set the ^[e]temple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to wage war at ^(X)Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him. ²¹ But ^[f]Neco sent messengers to him, saying, “^[g](Y)What 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 ^[h]away from him, but ^(Z)disguised himself in order to fight against him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco ^(AA)from the mouth of God, but he came to wage war on the plain of ^(AB)Megiddo. 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 ^[i]where he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. ^(AC)All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. ²⁵ Then ^(AD)Jeremiah 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.

The New Heaven and Earth

21 Then I saw ^(A)a new heaven and a new earth; for ^(B)the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. ² And I saw ^(C)the holy city, ^(D)new Jerusalem, ^(E)coming down out of heaven from God, ^(F)prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, ^(G)the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will ^(H)dwell among them, and they shall be His ^[a]people, and God Himself will be among them^[b], ⁴ and He will ^(I)wipe away every tear from their eyes; and ^(J)there will no longer be any death; ^(K)there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; ^(L)the first things have passed away.”

⁵ And ^(M)He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am ^(N)making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for ^(O)these words are faithful and true.” ⁶ Then He said to me, “^[c](P)It is done. I am the ^(Q)Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. ^(R)I will give water to the one who thirsts from the spring of the ^(S)water of life, without cost. ^7 (T)The one who overcomes will inherit these things, and ^(U)I will be his God and he will be My son. ^8 (V)But for the cowardly, and ^[d]unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in ^(W)the lake that burns with fire and ^[e]brimstone, which is the ^(X)second death.”

^9 (Y)Then one of the seven angels who had the ^(Z)seven bowls, ^[f]full of the ^(AA)seven last plagues, came and spoke with me, saying, “^(AB)Come here, I will show you the ^(AC)bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

The New Jerusalem

¹⁰ And ^(AD)he carried me away ^[g](AE)in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me ^(AF)the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, ¹¹ having ^(AG)the glory of God. Her ^[h]brilliance was like a very valuable stone, like a ^(AH)stone of ^(AI)crystal-clear jasper. ^12 [i]It had a great and high wall, ^[j](AJ)with twelve ^(AK)gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on the gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. ¹⁴ And the wall of the city had ^(AL)twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the ^(AM)twelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵ The one who spoke with me had a ^[k]gold measuring ^(AN)rod to measure the city, its ^(AO)gates, and its wall. ¹⁶ The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the ^[l]rod, ^[m]twelve thousand stadia; its length, width, and height are equal. ¹⁷ And he measured its wall, ^[n]144 cubits, by ^(AP)human ^[o]measurements, which are also ^(AQ)angelic measurements. ¹⁸ The material of the wall was ^(AR)jasper; and the city was ^(AS)pure gold, like ^[p]clear ^(AT)glass. ^19 (AU)The foundation stones of the city wall were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was ^(AV)jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, ^(AW)emerald; ²⁰ the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, ^(AX)sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. ²¹ And the twelve ^(AY)gates were twelve ^(AZ)pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was ^(BA)pure gold, like transparent ^(BB)glass.

²² I saw ^(BC)no ^[q]temple in it, for the ^(BD)Lord God the Almighty and the ^(BE)Lamb are its ^[r]temple. ²³ And the city ^(BF)has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for ^(BG)the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the ^(BH)Lamb. ^24 (BI)The nations will walk by its light, and the ^(BJ)kings of the earth ^[s]will bring their glory into it. ²⁵ In the daytime (for ^(BK)there will be no night there) ^(BL)its gates ^(BM)will never be closed; ²⁶ and ^(BN)they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; ²⁷ and ^(BO)nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those ^[t]whose names are ^(BP)written in the Lamb’s book of life.