Josiah kept a Passover to YAHWEH1 in Jerusalem: and they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2He set the priests in their offices, and encouraged them in the service of the House of YAHWEH. 3He said to the Levites2 who taught all Israel, who were holy to YAHWEH, “Put the holy ark in the House which Sulayman3 son of Dawud4 king of Israel built. It will no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve YAHWEH your God, and his people Israel. 4Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ households by your divisions, according to the writing of Dawud king of Israel, and according to the writing of Sulayman his son. 5Stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers’ households of your brothers the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a fathers’ household of the Levites. 6Kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the Word of YAHWEH by Musa5.”
7Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the Passover offerings, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls: these were of the king’s possessions. 8His princes gave for a freewill-offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zakariyya6 and Jehiel, the rulers of the House of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen. 9Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.
10So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their places, and the Levites by their divisions, according to the king’s commandment. 11They killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from their hands, and the Levites skinned them. 12They removed the burnt offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers’ households of the children of the people, to offer to YAHWEH, as it is written in the Book of Musa. They did the same with the oxen. 13They roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance: and the holy offerings boiled they in pots, caldrons, and pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people. 14Afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Harun7 were busied in offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night: therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Harun. 15The singers, the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of Dawud, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the porters were at every gate: they did not need to depart from their service; for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.
16So all the service of YAHWEH was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt-offerings on the altar of YAHWEH, according to the commandment of King Josiah. 17The children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. 18There was no Passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.
20After all this, when Josiah had prepared the Temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. 21But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I come not against you this day, but against the house with which I have war; and God has commanded me to make haste: hold yourself back from meddling with God, who is with me, that he not destroy you.”
22Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. 23The archers shot at King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, “Take me away; for I am severely wounded.”
24So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25Armiya8 lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
26Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the Taurat9 of YAHWEH, 27and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
- 35:1 YAHWEH, God’s personal Name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15: ‘God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”’ ↩︎
- 35:3 Levites, the descendants of Levi, one of the 12 sons of Prophet Yaqub (Jacob), from whose family line came all the priests who served in the Holy House of God, the Temple at Jerusalem. ↩︎
- 35:3 Sulayman, this Arabic name and the name Solomon are both derived from the Hebrew name Shlomo which means “peace.” ↩︎
- 35:3 Dawud, this Arabic name is derived from David (Hebrew) and means “Beloved.” ↩︎
- 35:6 Musa, this Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name Moses meaning “to pull out” or “draw out” (of water); referring to the biblical story where he was rescued from the Nile River by Firaun’s daughter. ↩︎
- 35:8 Zakariyya, this Arabic name is derived from the Hebrew name Zechariah, which means “YAHWEH remembers.” ↩︎
- 35:14 Harun, this Arabic name and the English name Aaron, are both derived from the Hebrew name Aharon, possibly meaning “exalted” or “high mountain.” ↩︎
- 35:25 Armiya, or Jeremiah, from the Hebrew name Yirmeyah, which means “YAHWEH will exalt.” ↩︎
- 35:26 Taurat, this Arabic term is derived from the Hebrew word Torah, which means “instruction” or “teaching.” Depending on context, Taurat can refer to,
1. The whole Hebrew Bible contained here under the title Taurat, equivalent to what Jews today call Tanakh, and what Christians call the Old Testament.
2. The revelation given to Prophet Musa, that is, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes called the Pentateuch. Pentateuch is a Greek word meaning “five books” and includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These five books are attributed to Prophet Musa himself. This is the traditional and most common meaning given to Taurat or Torah.
3. The Law of Musa found within the Pentateuch, with its hundreds of rules and regulations covering many aspects of daily life for the people of Israel. The most famous of these laws are the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20.
4. Taurat can also refer to divine instruction and teaching in general without reference to a particular book of the Hebrew Bible. ↩︎