New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
2 Chronicles 35
1
Josiah celebrated the Passover Feast in Jerusalem in honor of the Lord. The Passover lamb was killed on the 14th day of the first month.
Reference
2
Josiah appointed the priests to their duties. He cheered them up as they served the Lord at his temple.
Reference
References Lord
2 Chronicles 31:2
3
The Levites taught all of the people of Israel. The Levites had been set apart to the Lord. Josiah said to them, "Put the sacred ark of the covenant in the temple Solomon built. He was the son of David and king of Israel. The ark must not be carried around on your shoulders. Serve the Lord your God. Serve his people Israel.
Reference
Holy
2 Chronicles 5:7
Kingdom
2 Chronicles 30:22
Parallel theme
1 Chronicles 23:26
References Israel
Deuteronomy 33:10
References Lord
Malachi 2:7
2 Corinthians 4:5
4
Prepare yourselves by families in your groups. Do it based on the directions that were written by David, the king of Israel, and by his son Solomon.
Reference
References David
2 Chronicles 8:14
5
"Stand at the temple. Stand there with a group of Levites for each group of families among your people.
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 134:1
6
Kill the Passover lambs. Set yourselves apart to the Lord. Prepare the lambs for your people. Do what the Lord commanded through Moses."
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 51:7
Job 1:5
Exodus 12:6
Genesis 35:2
Joel 2:16
References Lord
2 Chronicles 29:5
Word
2 Chronicles 29:15
7
Josiah provided animals for the Passover offerings. He gave them for all of the people who were there. He gave a total of 30,000 sheep and goats and 3,000 head of cattle. He gave all of them from his own possessions.
Reference
8
His officials also gave freely. They gave to the people and the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel were in charge of God's temple. They gave the priests 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 head of cattle.
9
Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel also gave offerings. So did Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad. All of them were the leaders of the Levites. They gave 5,000 Passover lambs and 500 head of cattle for the Levites.
10
The Passover service was arranged. The priests stood in their places. The Levites were in their groups. That's what the king had ordered.
Reference
11
The Passover lambs were killed. The priests sprinkled the blood that had been handed to them. The Levites skinned the animals.
Reference
Parallel theme
2 Chronicles 29:34
12
They set the burnt offerings to one side. Those offerings were for the smaller family groups of the people to offer to the Lord. That's what was written in the Scroll of Moses. The Levites did the same thing with the cattle.
13
They cooked the Passover animals over the fire, just as the law required. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, large kettles and pans. They served the offerings quickly to all of the people.
Reference
14
After that, they got things ready for themselves and the priests. That's because the priests, who were from the family line of Aaron, were busy until dark. They were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat parts. The Levites got things ready for themselves and for the priests, who belonged to Aaron's family line.
15
Those who played music were from the family line of Asaph. They were in the places that had been set up by David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun. Jeduthun had been the king's prophet. The guards at each gate didn't have to leave their places. That's because their brother Levites got things ready for them.
16
So at that time the entire service in honor of the Lord was carried out. The Passover Feast was celebrated. The burnt offerings were sacrificed on the Lord's altar. That's what King Josiah had ordered.
17
The people of Israel who were there celebrated the Passover at that time. They observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.
18
The Passover hadn't been observed like that in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel. None of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated a Passover like Josiah's. He celebrated it with the priests and Levites. All of the people of Judah and Israel were there along with the people of Jerusalem.
Reference
References Israel
2 Chronicles 30:5
19
That Passover Feast was celebrated in the 18th year of Josiah's rule.
20
Josiah had put the temple in order. After all of that, Neco went up to fight at Carchemish. He was king of Egypt. Carchemish was on the Euphrates River. Josiah marched out to meet Neco in battle.
Reference
📍 Carchemish
Parallel theme
Isaiah 10:9
21
But Neco sent messengers to him. They said, "King Josiah, there isn't any trouble between you and me. I'm not attacking you at this time. I'm at war with another country. God told me to hurry. He's with me. So stop opposing him. If you don't, he'll destroy you."
Reference
22
But Josiah wouldn't turn away from Neco. He wore different clothes so people wouldn't recognize him. He wanted to go to war against Neco. He wouldn't listen to what God had commanded Neco to say. Instead, he went out to fight him on the flatlands of Megiddo.
Reference
23
Men who had bows shot arrows at King Josiah. After he was hit, he told his officers, "Take me away. I'm badly wounded."
Reference
Kingdom
1 Kings 22:34
24
So they took him out of his chariot. They put him in his other chariot. They brought him to Jerusalem. There he died. His body was buried in the tombs of his family. All of the people of Judah and Jerusalem sobbed over him.
Reference
References Jerusalem
Zechariah 12:11
25
Jeremiah wrote songs of sadness about Josiah. To this very day all of the male and female singers remember Josiah by singing those songs. That became a practice in Israel. The songs are written down in the Book of the Songs of Sadness.
Reference
26
Josiah did many things that showed he was faithful to the Lord. Those things and the other events of Josiah's rule were in keeping with what is written in the Law of the Lord.
27
All of the events from beginning to end are written down. They are written in the records of the kings of Israel and Judah.
Summary of 2 Chronicles 35
2 Chronicles Chapter 35 describes Josiah's great Passover celebration and the tragic end of his reign. After completing his religious reforms and restoring the Temple, Josiah organized a national Passover in Jerusalem during the eighteenth year of his reign, around 622 BC. The celebration was carefully organized according to the Law. Priests and Levites were assigned their responsibilities, musicians and gatekeepers served in their proper positions, and enormous numbers of animals were provided for the people. Josiah personally contributed 30,000 lambs and young goats and 3,000 cattle, while his officials and the leaders of the Levites made additional contributions.
The celebration was exceptionally large. Israelites from Judah, Jerusalem, and territories associated with the former northern kingdom participated. The priests offered the sacrifices, the Levites prepared the animals and food, and the musicians led the worship. The people then observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. The Chronicler emphasizes that no Passover of this magnitude had been celebrated in Israel since the days of Samuel, making it one of the greatest achievements of Josiah's religious reforms. The event demonstrated that the Temple had been restored not merely as a building but as the center of national worship.
The second half of the chapter takes place several years later and presents a sharp change in circumstances. Around 609 BC, Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt marched north toward Carchemish to support the declining Assyrian Empire against Babylon. Josiah went out to confront the Egyptian army at Megiddo. Necho warned Josiah that he was not intending to fight Judah and claimed that his campaign was part of a larger purpose permitted by God. Josiah nevertheless refused to withdraw and entered the battle.
Josiah was struck by Egyptian archers and seriously wounded. His servants transported him back to Jerusalem, where he died. The people of Judah and Jerusalem mourned deeply, and Jeremiah composed a lament for him. Josiah's death was a major turning point because he was the last king of Judah to carry out such extensive religious reforms before the kingdom entered its final period of decline.
The chapter therefore contains both the high point and the tragic ending of Josiah's reign. His Passover demonstrated extraordinary commitment to restoring worship according to God's Law, while his death at Megiddo shows the danger of acting without fully discerning God's purposes. Josiah is remembered as a faithful king whose reforms temporarily renewed Judah, but his death in 609 BC came only a few decades before Jerusalem would ultimately fall to Babylon.
The celebration was exceptionally large. Israelites from Judah, Jerusalem, and territories associated with the former northern kingdom participated. The priests offered the sacrifices, the Levites prepared the animals and food, and the musicians led the worship. The people then observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. The Chronicler emphasizes that no Passover of this magnitude had been celebrated in Israel since the days of Samuel, making it one of the greatest achievements of Josiah's religious reforms. The event demonstrated that the Temple had been restored not merely as a building but as the center of national worship.
The second half of the chapter takes place several years later and presents a sharp change in circumstances. Around 609 BC, Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt marched north toward Carchemish to support the declining Assyrian Empire against Babylon. Josiah went out to confront the Egyptian army at Megiddo. Necho warned Josiah that he was not intending to fight Judah and claimed that his campaign was part of a larger purpose permitted by God. Josiah nevertheless refused to withdraw and entered the battle.
Josiah was struck by Egyptian archers and seriously wounded. His servants transported him back to Jerusalem, where he died. The people of Judah and Jerusalem mourned deeply, and Jeremiah composed a lament for him. Josiah's death was a major turning point because he was the last king of Judah to carry out such extensive religious reforms before the kingdom entered its final period of decline.
The chapter therefore contains both the high point and the tragic ending of Josiah's reign. His Passover demonstrated extraordinary commitment to restoring worship according to God's Law, while his death at Megiddo shows the danger of acting without fully discerning God's purposes. Josiah is remembered as a faithful king whose reforms temporarily renewed Judah, but his death in 609 BC came only a few decades before Jerusalem would ultimately fall to Babylon.