2Chr 35
1
And Josias kept a phase to the Lord in Jerusalem, and it was sacrificed on the fourteenth
day of the first month.
2
And he set the priests in their offices, and exhorted them to minister in the house
of the Lord.
3
And he spoke to the Levites, by whose instruction all Israel was sanctified to the
Lord, saying: Put the ark in the sanctuary of the temple, which Solomon the son of
David king of Israel built : for you shall carry it no more: but minister now to the
Lord your God, and to his people Israel.
4
And prepare yourselves by your houses, and families according to your courses, as
David king of Israel commanded, and Solomon his son hath written.
5
And serve ye in the sanctuary by the families and companies of Levi.
6
And being sanctified kill the phase, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according
to the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses.
7
And Josias gave to all the people that were found there in the solemnity of the phase,
of lambs and of kids of the flocks, and of other small cattle thirty thousand, and
of oxen three thousand, all these were of the king's substance.
8
And his princes willingly offered what they had vowed, both to the people and to the
priests and the Levites. Moreover Helcias, and Zacharias, and Jahiel rulers of the
house of the Lord, gave to the priests to keep the phase two thousand six hundred
small cattle, and three hundred oxen.
9
And Chonenias, and Semeias and Nathanael, his brethren, and Hasabias, and Jehiel,
and Jozabad princes of the Levites, gave to the rest of the Levites to celebrate the
phase five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.
10
And the ministry was prepared, and the priests stood in their office: the Levites
also in their companies, according to the king's commandment.
11
And the phase was immolated: and the priests sprinkled the blood with their hand,
and the Levites flayed the holocausts:
12
And they separated them to give them by the houses and families of every one, and
to be offered to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses, and with the oxen
they did in like manner.
13
And they roasted the phase with fire, according to that which is written in the law:
but the victims of peace offerings they boiled in caldrons, and kettles, and pots,
and they distributed them speedily among all the people.
14
And afterwards they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: for the priests
were busied in offering of holocausts and the fat until night: wherefore the Levites
prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron last.
15
And the singers the sons of Asaph stood in their order, according to the commandment
of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Idithun the prophets of the king: and the porters
kept guard at every gate, so as not to depart one moment from their service: and therefore
their brethren the Levites prepared meats for them.
16
So all the service of the Lord was duly accomplished that day, both in keeping the
phase, and offering holocausts upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment
of king Josias.
17
And the children of Israel that were found there, kept the phase at that time, and
the feast of unleavened bread seven days.
18
There was no phase like to this in Israel, from the days of Samuel the prophet: neither
did any of all the kings of Israel keep such a phase as Josias kept, with the priests,
and the Levites, and all Juda, and Israel that were found, and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem.
19
In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josias was this phase celebrated.
20
After that Josias had repaired the temple, Nechao king of Egypt came up to fight in
Charcamis by the Euphrates: and Josias went out to meet him.
21
But he sent messengers to him, saying: What have I to do with thee, O king of Juda?
I come not against thee this day, but I fight against another house, to which God
hath commanded me to go in haste : forbear to do against God, who is with me, lest
he kill thee.
22
Josias would not return, but prepared to fight against him, and hearkened not to the
words of Nechao from the mouth of God, I but went to fight in the field of Mageddo.
23
And there he was wounded by the archers, and he said to his servants: Carry me out
of the battle, for I am grievously wounded.
24
And they removed him from the chariot into another, that followed him after the manner
of kings, and they carried him away to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in the
monument of his fathers, and all Juda and Jerusalem mourned for him,
25
Particularly Jeremias: whose lamentations for Josias all the singing men and singing
women repeat unto this day, and it became like a law in Israel: Behold it is found
written in the Lamentations.
26
Now the rest of the acts of Josias and of his mercies, according to what was commanded
by the law of the Lord:
27
And his works first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel.