The Death of Josiah^(A)

²⁰ After Josiah ·did all this for [restored; set in order] the ·Temple [^Lhouse], Neco king of Egypt led an army to ·attack [fight/do battle at] Carchemish, a town on the Euphrates River. And Josiah marched out to fight against Neco. ²¹ But Neco sent messengers to Josiah, saying, “King Josiah, ·there should not be war between us [what have we to do with each other? ^Lwhat to me and to you]. I did not come to fight you, but ·my enemies [the kingdom/^Lhouse with which I am at war]. God told me to hurry, and he is on my side. So ·don’t fight [stop opposing] God, ·or he will [so he will not] destroy you.”

²² But Josiah did not ·go [^Lturn his face] away. He ·wore different clothes [disguised himself] ·so no one would know who he was [in order to fight him]. Refusing to listen to ·what Neco said at God’s command [^Lthe words Neco received from God’s mouth], Josiah went to fight on the plain of Megiddo. ²³ In the battle King Josiah was shot by archers. He told his servants, “Take me away because I am badly wounded.” ²⁴ So they took him out of his chariot and put him in another chariot and carried him to Jerusalem. There he died and was buried in the ·graves [tombs] where his ·ancestors [fathers] were buried. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem ·were very sad because he was dead [mourned for him].

²⁵ Jeremiah ·wrote some sad songs about [composed a lament for] Josiah. Even to this day all the men and women singers ·remember and honor [lament; mourn] Josiah with these songs. It became a ·custom [tradition] in Israel to sing these songs that are written in ·the collection of sad songs [The Book of Laments].

²⁶ The ·other things Josiah did as king [rest of the acts/events/history of Josiah] and his acts of devotion in obedience to what was was written in the Lord’s ·Teachings [instructions; laws], ²⁷ from ·beginning to end [first to last], ·are [^Lare they not…?] written in the ·book [scroll] of the kings of Israel and Judah.