Beginning

Josiah Keeps Pesach

35 Josiah celebrated Passover unto Adonai in Jerusalem. They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² He reinstated the kohanim to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the House of Adonai. ³ He said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were consecrated to Adonai, “Put the holy Ark in the House which Solomon the son of King David of Israel built. Since it is no longer a burden on your shoulders now, serve Adonai your God and His people Israel. ⁴ Prepare youselves by your ancestral houses in your divisions, according to the writing of King David of Israel and according to the writing of his son Solomon. ⁵ Stand in the holy place by the divisions of the ancestral houses, by sons of the people and by divisions of ancestral houses of the Levites. ⁶ Now sanctify yourselves, slaughter the Passover lamb and prepare it for your kinsmen, according to the word of Adonai by the hand of Moses.”

⁷ Josiah provided for all the people who were present, flocks of lambs and goats totaling 30,000, all for the Passover offerings, as well as 3,000 bulls—all from the king’s possessions.

⁸ His officials also gave a freewill offering to the people, the kohanim and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel—the administrators of the House of God—donated to the kohanim 2,600 Passover offerings, and 300 bulls. ⁹ Likewise, Conaniah along with Shemaiah and Nethaniel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, leaders of the Levites, provided 5,000 Passover lambs for the Levites and 500 bulls.

¹⁰ So the avodah was prepared and the kohanim stood at their posts with the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command. ¹¹ They slaughtered the Passover lambs and while the kohanim sprinkled the blood handed to them, the Levites flayed them. ¹² Then they removed the portions to be burnt to give them to the divisions of ancestral houses of the people to present to Adonai, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did the same with the bulls. ¹³ They roasted the Passover lambs with fire according to the ordinance, then boiled the sacred parts in pots, caldrons and pans, and brought them quickly to all the people. ¹⁴ Afterward, they made preparations for themselves and for the kohanim, because the kohanim, the sons of Aaron, were busy sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat until nightfall. So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the kohanim, the sons of Aaron.

¹⁵ The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were at their stations according to the commandment of David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun, the king’s seer. The gatekeepers were at every gate. They did not need to depart from their posts for their fellow Levites provided for them.

¹⁶ So on that day the entire service of Adonai was prepared to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of Adonai according to the command of King Josiah. ¹⁷ The Bnei-Yisrael present celebrated the Passover at that time and observed the Feast of Matzot for seven days. ¹⁸ Passover had not been celebrated like that in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet, and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the kohanim, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.

Death of Josiah

²⁰ After all this, when Josiah had set the House in order, King Neco of Egypt came up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates and Josiah went out to engage him. ²¹ But Neco sent messengers to him saying, “What is there between me and you, king of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house that wars with me and God has ordered me to hurry. Stop for your sake from meddling with God who is with me, so that He will not destroy you!”

²² Josiah, however, would not turn away from him but disguised himself in order to fight him. He did not listen to Neco’s words from the mouth of God and went to fight him in the plain of Megiddo. ²³ Archers shot King Josiah and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am seriously wounded.” ²⁴ So his servants carried him out of the chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had. They brought him to Jerusalem where he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned over Josiah.

²⁵ Now Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the singers, male and female, commemorated Josiah in their laments. And they made them an ordinance in Israel and behold, they are written in the lamentations. ²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion as written in the Torah of Adonai, ²⁷ and his acts, the first and the last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

Defiance Leads to Devastation

36 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in Jerusalem in his father’s place. ² Joahaz^[a] was 23 years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³ The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and imposed a fine on the land of 100 talents of silver and a talent of gold. ⁴ The king of Egypt made Eliakim, his brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Joahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

⁵ Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of Adonai his God. ⁶ Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched against him and bound him with bronze chains to take him to Babylon. ⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the vessels of the House of Adonai to Babylon and put them in his temple in Babylon. ⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the detestable things he did, and all that was found against him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

⁹ Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of Adonai. ¹⁰ At the turn of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and had him brought to Babylon along with the precious articles from the House of Adonai and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹ Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. ¹² He did evil in the sight of Adonai his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke from the mouth of Adonai. ¹³ He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him take an oath by God. He also stiffened his neck and hardened his heart so as not to turn to Adonai, the God of Israel. ¹⁴ Furthermore, all the leading kohanim and the people became very unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. They defiled the House of Adonai, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ Adonai, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through His messengers again and again, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God and despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of Adonai rose against His people, until there was no remedy. ¹⁷ Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the House of their Temple. He had no pity on young man or virgin, elderly or infirm—He gave them all into his hand. ¹⁸ All the vessels of the House of God, large and small, and the treasures of the House of Adonai, as well as the treasures of the king and his officers were all brought to Babylon. ¹⁹ They burned the House of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all the palaces with fire and destroyed everything of value. ²⁰ He exiled to Babylon those who had escaped the sword and they became slaves to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia— ²¹ in fulfillment of the word of Adonai by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had paid back her Shabbat rests—for as long as it lay desolate—the Shabbat rest was kept till 70 years were complete.

Proclamation of Cyrus of Persia

²² Now in the first year of King Cyrus of Persia—fulfilling the word of Adonai by the mouth of Jeremiah—Adonai stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing, saying: ²³ “Thus says King Cyrus of Persia ‘Adonai, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever among you of all His people may go up and may Adonai his God be with him.’”