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One like Josiah was not born before him, who returned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, and after him arose no one like him. Yet the Lord did not turn from the anger of his great wrath, with which the Lord was angry in Judah for all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. And the Lord said: I will also remove Judah from my sight, just as I removed Israel, and I will cast off the city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said: Let my name be there. And Necho Pharaoh king of Egypt went up against the king of the Assyrians to the river Euphrates, and king Josiah went to meet him. and Necho sent messengers to Josiah, saying: What have I to do with you, king of Judah? And I have not come against you today to wage war. and God told me to make haste; beware of the god who is with me, lest 257 he destroy you. And Josiah did not turn his face from him, but was determined to fight him. and he did not listen to the word of Necho from the mouth of God, and he came to fight in the plain of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah. And the king said to his servants: Take me away, for I am grievously wounded. And his servants took him out of the chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died and was buried with his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the singing men and singing women spoke a lament for Josiah to this day. And they made it an ordinance for Israel, behold it is written in the Lamentations. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him and made him king in place of his father. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. And Pharaoh Necho bound him at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem. And he brought him to Egypt, and imposed a tax on the land of 100 talents of silver and a talent of gold. And Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim son of Josiah king, and changed his name to Jehoiakim, and brought his brother Jehoahaz into Egypt, and he died there. Jehoiakim was a son of twenty-five years when he began to reign, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. And the 4th book of the kingdoms writes things consonant with these. And I found in a certain copy that after the death of Josiah Jeremiah the prophet, according to a divine oracle, commanded the priests to take up the divine ark and the tabernacle and to follow him. And leaving the city he went up to the mountain, where Moses also went up and saw the land of the promise. And having found a cave, he brought into it the tabernacle and the ark and the altar and the table and the lampstand and the other holy vessels, having blocked the entrance. And some of the priests with him returned to mark the place, and it was hidden from them. Whom Jeremiah, knowing by the spirit, also blamed, saying the place would be unknown, until the Lord gathers his people together and is merciful to Israel. 258 The 17th of Israel, Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, reigned for 3 months. Esdras calls this Jehoahaz Jechonias, speaking thus verbatim: And those of the nation, taking Jechonias son of Josiah, appointed him king. Then: and he reigned in Israel and in Jerusalem for 3 months. And the king of Egypt removed him from reigning in Jerusalem, and he fined the nation 100 talents of silver and 10 talents of gold. And he appointed Jehoiakim his brother as king. The 18th of Judah, Eliakim, also called Jehoiakim, reigned for 11 years. and it was the year of the world 4883. The 4th year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah (and it was the year of the world 4883 and the first year of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar) the great Jeremiah says: the same was the 23rd year of his own prophecy

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Ὅμοιος Ἰωσίου οὐκ ἐγενήθη ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ, ὃς ἐπέστρεψε πρὸς κύριον ἐν ὅλῃ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ ψυχῇ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ ἰσχύι αὐτοῦ κατὰ πάντα τὸν νόμον Μωυσῇ, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον οὐκ ἀνέστη ὅμοιος αὐτῷ. πλὴν οὐκ ἀπεστράφη κύριος ἀπὸ ὀργῆς θυμοῦ αὐ τοῦ τοῦ μεγάλου, οὗ ὠργίσθη θυμῷ ὁ κύριος ἐν τῷ Ἰούδᾳ ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ παροργίσματα ἃ παρώργισε Μανασσῆς. καὶ εἶπε κύριος· καί γε τὸν Ἰούδαν ἀποστήσω ἀπὸ προσώπου μου, καθὼς ἀπέστησα τὸν Ἰσραήλ, καὶ ἀπωσάμην τὴν πόλιν, ἣν ἐξελεξάμην, Ἱερουσαλήμ, καὶ τὸν οἶκον, ὃν εἶπα· ἔστω τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐκεῖ. Καὶ ἀνέβη Νεχαῶ Φαραῶ βασιλεὺς Αἰγύπτου ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλέα Ἀσσυρίων ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν Εὐφράτην, καὶ ἐπορεύθη βασιλεὺς Ἰωσίας εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτῷ. καὶ ἀπέστειλε Νεχαῶ πρὸς Ἰωσίαν ἀγγέλους λέγων· τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί, βασιλεῦ Ἰούδα; καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ σὲ ἥκω σήμερον πόλεμον πολεμῆσαι. καὶ ὁ θεὸς εἶπε κατασπεῦσαί με· πρόσεχε ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ μετ' ἐμοῦ, μὴ 257 καταφθείρῃ σέ. καὶ οὐκ ἀπέστρεψεν Ἰωσίας τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ἢ πολεμεῖν αὐτὸν ἐκραταιώθη. καὶ οὐκ ἤκουσε τὸν λόγον Νεχαῶ διὰ στόματος θεοῦ, καὶ ἦλθε τοῦ πολεμῆσαι ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ Μαγεδών. καὶ ἐτόξευσαν οἱ τοξόται ἐπὶ βασιλέα Ἰωσίαν. καὶ εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῖς παισὶν αὐτοῦ· ἐξαγάγετέ με, ὅτι ἐπόνησα σφόδρα. καὶ ἐξήγαγον οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἅρματος καὶ ἀνεβίβασαν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ ἅρμα τὸ δευτερεῦον, ὃ ἦν αὐτῷ. καὶ ἤγαγον αὐτὸν εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ, καὶ ἀπέθανε καὶ ἐτάφη μετὰ τῶν πατέρων αὐτοῦ, καὶ πᾶς Ἰούδας καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπένθησεν ἐπὶ Ἰωσίαν. καὶ ἐθρήνησεν Ἱερεμίας ἐπὶ Ἰωσίαν καὶ εἶπονπάντες οἱ ἄρχοντες καὶ αἱ ἄρχουσαι θρῆνον ἐπὶ Ἰωσίαν ἕως τῆς σήμερον. καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν πρόσταγμα ἐπὶ Ἰσραήλ, ἰδοὺ γέγραπται ἐπὶ τῶν θρήνων. Εἶτα καὶ ἔλαβεν ὁ λαὸς τῆς γῆς τὸν Ἰωάχαζ υἱὸν Ἰωσίου, καὶ ἔχρισαν αὐτὸν καὶ κατέστησαν αὐτὸν εἰς βασιλέα ἀντὶ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. εἴκοσι τριῶν ἐτῶν Ἰωάχαζ ἐν τῷ βασιλεύειν αὐτὸν καὶ τρίμηνον ἐβασίλευσεν ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. καὶ ἔδησεν αὐτὸν Φαραῶ Νεχαῶ ἐν ∆εβλαθὰ ἐν γῇ Αἰμὰθ τοῦ μὴ βασιλεύειν ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. καὶ ἤγαγεν αὐτὸν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, καὶ ἐπέβαλε φόρον ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ρʹ τάλαντα ἀργυρίου καὶ τάλαντον χρυσίου. καὶ κατέστησε Φαραῶ Νεχαῶ τὸν Ἐλιακεὶμ υἱὸν Ἰωσίου βασιλέα, καὶ μετέστρεψε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰωακείμ, καὶ τὸν Ἰωάχαζ ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ εἰσήγαγεν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, καὶ ἀπέθανεν ἐκεῖ. υἱὸς εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε ἐτῶν Ἰωακεὶμ ἐν τῷ βασιλεύειν αὐτόν, καὶ ιαʹ ἔτη ἐβασίλευσεν ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. συνῳδὰ δὲ καὶ ἡ δʹ τῶν βασιλειῶν τούτοις γράφει. Εὗρον δὲ ἔν τινι ἀντιγράφῳ ὅτι μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν Ἰωσίου Ἱερεμίας ὁ προφήτης κατὰ χρησμὸν θεῖον προσέταξε τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἆραι τὴν θείαν κιβωτὸν καὶ τὴν σκηνὴν καὶ ἀκολουθῆσαι αὐτῷ. καὶ ἐξελθὼν τὴν πόλιν ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος, ὅπου καὶ Μωυσῆς ἀναβὰς εἶδε τὴν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας. καὶ εὑρὼν σπήλαιον εἰσήγαγεν ἐν αὐτῷ τὴν σκηνὴν καὶ τὴν κιβωτὸν καὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον καὶ τὴν τράπεζαν καὶ τὴν λυχνίαν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἅγια σκεύη φράξας τὴν εἴσοδον. τινὲς δὲ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ ἱερέων ὑπέστρεψαν ἐπισημήνασθαι τὸν τόπον, καὶ ἐκρύβη ἀπ' αὐτῶν. οἷς καὶ ἐμέμψατο Ἱερεμίας γνοὺς τῷ πνεύματι, ἄγνωστον ἔσεσθαι τὸν τόπον εἰπών, ἕως ἐπισυναγάγῃ κύριος τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἵλεως γένηται τῷ Ἰσραήλ. 258 Τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ιζʹ ἐβασίλευσεν Ἰωάχαζ μῆνας γʹ, υἱὸς Ἰωσίου. Τοῦτον τὸν Ἰωάχαζ Ἰεχονίαν ὀνομάζει ὁ Ἔσδρας οὕτω λέγων πρὸςλέξιν· καὶ ἀναλαβόντες οἱ ἐκ τοῦ ἔθνους τὸν Ἰεχονίαν υἱὸν Ἰωσίου ἀνέδειξαν βασιλέα. εἶτα· καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν ἐν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ μῆνας γʹ. καὶ ἀπέστησεν αὐτὸν βασιλεὺς Αἰγύπτου βασιλεύειν ἐν Ἱερου σαλήμ, καὶ ἐζημίωσε τὸ ἔθνος ἀργυρίου τάλαντα ρʹ καὶ χρυσίου τάλαντα ιʹ. καὶ ἀνέδειξε βασιλέα Ἰωακεὶμ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ. Τοῦ Ἰούδα ιηʹ ἐβασίλευσεν Ἐλιακείμ, ὁ καὶ Ἰωακείμ, ἔτη ιαʹ. τοῦ δὲκόσμου ἦν ἔτος δωπγʹ. Τὸ δʹ ἔτος Ἰωακεὶμ υἱοῦ Ἰωσίου βασιλέως Ἰούδα (κόσμου δὲ ἦν ἔτοςδωπγʹ καὶ πρῶτον ἔτος βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος Ναβουχοδονόσωρ) ὁ μέγας Ἱερεμίας φησί· τὸ δ' αὐτὸ κγʹ ἔτος τῆς ἑαυτοῦ προφητείας