Josiah’s Passover Observance

35 Josiah observed the Lord’s Passover^(A) and slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month.^{(B) 2} He appointed the priests to their responsibilities and encouraged them to serve in the Lord’s temple.^{(C) 3} He said to the Levites who taught all Israel^(D) the holy things of the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the temple built by Solomon son of David king of Israel. Since you do not have to carry it on your shoulders,^(E) now serve Yahweh your God and His people Israel.

⁴ “Organize your ancestral houses by your divisions^(F) according to the written instruction of David king of Israel and that of his son Solomon.^{(G) 5} Serve in the holy place by the divisions of the ancestral houses for your brothers, the lay people,^[a] and the distribution of the tribal household of the Levites.^{(H) 6} Slaughter the Passover lambs,^(I) consecrate yourselves,^(J) and make preparations for your brothers to carry out the word of the Lord through Moses.”

⁷ Then Josiah donated 30,000 sheep, lambs, and young goats, plus 3,000 bulls from his own possessions, for the Passover sacrifices for all the lay people^[b] who were present.

⁸ His officials also donated willingly for the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, chief officials of God’s temple, gave 2,600 Passover sacrifices and 300 bulls for the priests. ⁹ Conaniah^(K) and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, officers of the Levites, donated 5,000 Passover sacrifices for the Levites, plus 500 bulls.

¹⁰ So the service was established; the priests stood at their posts and the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command.^{(L) 11} Then they slaughtered the Passover lambs, and while the Levites were skinning the animals,^(M) the priests sprinkled the blood^[c] they had been given.^{[d] 12} They removed the burnt offerings so that they might be given to the divisions of the ancestral houses of the lay people^[e] to offer to the Lord, according to what is written in the book of Moses; they did the same with the bulls. ¹³ They roasted the Passover lambs with fire according to regulation.^(N) They boiled the holy sacrifices in pots, kettles, and bowls; and they quickly brought them to the lay people.^{[f] 14} Afterward, they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, since the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were busy offering up burnt offerings and fat until night. So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

¹⁵ The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were at their stations according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer.^(O) Also, the gatekeepers were at each gate.^(P) None of them left their tasks because their Levite brothers had made preparations for them.

¹⁶ So all the service of the Lord was established that day for observing the Passover and for offering burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. ¹⁷ The Israelites who were present in Judah also observed the Passover at that time and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.^{(Q) 18} No Passover had been observed^(R) like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present in Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed.