2 Chronicles 35

Josiah held a Passover in Jerusalem to honor the LORD. The people killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month.

1Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.

NotePassover was the yearly festival remembering Israel's escape from slavery in Egypt, when a lamb was killed and its blood put on the doorposts. It fell on the fourteenth day of the first month (Nisan/Abib), which lands in March or April. The lamb was killed at the temple and eaten that evening by households.

2He assigned the priests to their duties and urged them on in the work of the LORD's temple.

2And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD,

NotePriests were male descendants of Aaron; only they could handle the altar and the blood. Their "charges" were fixed duty rosters, each family group served the temple in rotation rather than all at once.

3He spoke to the Levites, who taught all Israel and were set apart for the LORD. He said, "Put the holy ark in the temple that Solomon son of David, king of Israel, built. You do not need to carry it on your shoulders anymore. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.

3And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the LORD, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the LORD your God, and his people Israel,

NoteThe Levites were the wider tribe of Levi, who assisted the priests, taught the law, sang, guarded the gates, and did the physical work of the sanctuary. The ark was the gold-covered chest holding the stone tablets of the law; in the desert years the Levites carried it on poles resting on their shoulders. Josiah's point is that the ark now has a permanent home in the temple, so that carrying duty is finished and they are free for other work. The Hebrew does not say why the ark needed putting back, whether it had been moved during earlier building work or during the reigns of kings who filled the temple with other gods.

4Get yourselves ready by family groups, in the work shifts David king of Israel wrote down, and as his son Solomon wrote down too.

4And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.

Note"Courses" were the standing rotation of work shifts, with each family group of Levites taking its turn on duty. Chronicles credits David and Solomon with setting up the written roster.

5Stand in the holy place, arranged to match the family groups of your relatives, the ordinary people, and matching the family groups of the Levites.

5And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites.

NoteThe "holy place" here means the temple courts where the animals were killed, not the inner sanctuary. The Levites were to line up so that each shift faced a matching block of lay families, an assembly-line arrangement for handling thousands of animals.

6Kill the Passover lambs, make yourselves clean and ready for holy work, and prepare the animals for your fellow Israelites, so everything is done as the LORD said through Moses."

6So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

NoteTo "sanctify" yourself meant going through set rituals of washing and abstaining that made a person fit to handle holy things, a matter of ceremonial status, not moral character.

7Josiah gave the people animals from his own flocks: thirty thousand lambs and young goats for the Passover offerings, for everyone who was there, plus three thousand bulls. All of these came from the king's own property.

7And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king’s substance.

NoteLamb or goat were both allowed for Passover. The bulls were not for the Passover meal itself but for the additional festival sacrifices over the following week. "The king's substance" means Josiah paid out of the royal estate, so that even the poor could take part.

8His officials also gave freely to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the men in charge of God's temple, gave the priests two thousand six hundred sheep and goats and three hundred oxen for the Passover offerings.

8And his princes gave willingly unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites: Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen.

NoteHilkiah is the high priest who, according to the previous chapter, found the book of the law during the temple repairs. "Small cattle" in older English means sheep and goats, as against "oxen," the large cattle.

9Conaniah, his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, gave the Levites five thousand sheep and goats and five hundred oxen for the Passover offerings.

9Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave unto the Levites for passover offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.

10So the service was ready. The priests stood in their places and the Levites in their work groups, just as the king had ordered.

10So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their courses, according to the king’s commandment.

11They killed the Passover animals. The priests sprinkled the blood that was handed to them, and the Levites skinned the animals.

11And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.

NoteBlood belonged to God and had to be handled by priests: the Levites killed and drained the animals and passed the blood along, and the priest flung it against the base of the altar. Skinning was normally the worshiper's own job, but with this many animals the Levites took it over.

12They set aside the parts meant for burnt offerings, to hand out to the family groups of the people, so the people could offer them to the LORD as the book of Moses says. They did the same with the oxen.

12And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.

NoteThe fat and certain internal organs were burned whole on the altar as God's portion; the rest of the animal was eaten. "The book of Moses" means the law contained in the first five books of the Bible.

13They roasted the Passover animals over the fire, following the rule, and they boiled the other holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans. Then they quickly handed the food out to all the people.

13And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the people.

NoteThere is a known tension in the law here: Exodus says the Passover animal must be roasted and not boiled, while Deuteronomy uses a verb that normally means to boil. Chronicles keeps both, roasting the Passover animals and boiling the other sacrifices.

14Afterward the Levites got food ready for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, were busy offering burnt offerings and fat until night. So the Levites prepared food for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

14And afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering of burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.

Note"The sons of Aaron" means the priestly line descended from Moses' brother Aaron. The fat was the portion burned on the altar, and burning it for thousands of animals took until after dark, which is why the priests could not stop to prepare their own meal.

15The singers, the descendants of Asaph, were at their posts, as David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer had ordered. The gatekeepers stayed at each gate. They did not have to leave their posts, because their fellow Levites prepared food for them.

15And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

NoteAsaph, Heman, and Jeduthun were the three founding families of temple musicians; several psalms carry their names. A "seer" was a prophet, so called because he received messages in visions; the title marks Jeduthun as an official prophet attached to the royal court. The gatekeepers were Levites who controlled access to the temple courts and could not abandon their posts even to eat.

16So that day the whole service of the LORD was carried out: the Passover was kept and burnt offerings were made on the LORD's altar, just as King Josiah had ordered.

16So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

17The Israelites who were there kept the Passover at that time, and then the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

17And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

NoteThe Feast of Unleavened Bread ran for the seven days following Passover, during which no yeast could be eaten or even kept in the house, a reminder that Israel left Egypt in such haste that the bread had no time to rise.

18No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had ever kept a Passover like the one Josiah kept with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were there, and the people of Jerusalem.

18And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

NoteSamuel was the last of the leaders called judges, so this reaches back before Israel had kings at all. The parallel account in 2 Kings 23 makes the same claim by saying "since the days of the judges."

19This Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign.

19In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.

NoteJosiah's eighteenth year is roughly 622 BC, the same year the lost book of the law was found during the temple repairs described in the previous chapter.

20After all this, when Josiah had put the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt marched up to fight at Carchemish by the Euphrates River, and Josiah went out to face him.

20After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him.

NoteCarchemish was a fortress city on the Euphrates in what is now southern Turkey, controlling the main crossing. Neco was marching north to prop up the collapsing Assyrian empire against Babylon. Josiah's kingdom straddled the route, and Megiddo guarded the pass the Egyptian army had to use.

21But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, "What quarrel is there between you and me, king of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the royal house I am at war with. God told me to hurry. Stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you."

21But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.

Note"The royal house I am at war with" is literally "the house with which I have war", the ruling dynasty Neco is campaigning against, understood as Babylon or what was left of Assyria's enemies. Neco is a foreign king, and the Hebrew word he uses for God can equally mean "a god"; the narrator, however, treats the message in the next verse as genuinely coming from God.

22Josiah would not turn back from him. Instead, he disguised himself so he could fight him. He would not listen to what Neco said at God's command, and he went to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

22Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

NoteKings disguised themselves in battle to avoid being singled out by enemy archers. Some Hebrew manuscripts and ancient versions read not "disguised himself" but "steeled himself," two verbs that differ by one letter. The valley of Megiddo is the broad plain of Jezreel in northern Israel, the classic battlefield of the region.

23The archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, because I am badly wounded."

23And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.

24So his servants lifted him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot he had, and brought him to Jerusalem. There he died, and he was buried in one of the tombs of his ancestors. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

24His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

NoteA king went to war with a spare chariot and driver; Josiah is moved into it to be carried out of the fighting. Being buried in the ancestral tombs, rock-cut family chambers, was the honorable end for a king, in contrast to the disgraced burials elsewhere in Chronicles.

25Jeremiah sang a song of grief for Josiah. To this day all the men and women singers sing about Josiah in their songs of grief. They made this a fixed custom in Israel, and the songs are written down in the book of laments.

25And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.

NoteThese laments are funeral songs, performed by professional mourners. The "book of laments" was a collection that has not survived; it is not the biblical book of Lamentations, which concerns the fall of Jerusalem a generation later.

26The rest of the things Josiah did, including his acts of faithful love, done in keeping with what is written in the law of the LORD,

26Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,

NoteThe word behind "goodness" or "acts of faithful love" is *hesed*, which covers loyalty, kindness, and keeping faith with an agreement, the steady dependability expected between covenant partners.

27and everything he did from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

27And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

NoteThis source book is now lost. Despite the name, it is not the biblical books of 1–2 Kings; Chronicles repeatedly cites older royal records that no longer exist.