1Josiah celebrated the Passover to Jehovah in Jerusalem. The Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. 2Josiah appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them to serve in Jehovahs Temple. 3He told the Levites, who instructed all Israel and performed ceremonies to make themselves holy to Jehovah: Put the Holy Ark in the Temple that Solomon, son of David and king of Israel, built. It should not be carried on your shoulders any longer. Serve Jehovah your God and his people Israel. 4Get yourselves ready with the family groups of your divisions, which are listed in the records of King David of Israel and the records of his son Solomon. 5»Divide yourselves into groups. Then spread out throughout the Temple so that each family of worshipers will be able to get help from one of you. 6»When the people bring you their Passover lamb, you must slaughter it and prepare it to be sacrificed to Jehovah. Make sure the people celebrate according to the instructions Jehovah gave Moses. Do not do anything to become unclean and unacceptable.« 7Josiah donated thirty thousand sheep and goats, and three thousand bulls from his own flocks and herds for the people to offer as sacrifices. 8Josiahs officials also voluntarily gave some of their animals to the people, the priests, and the Levites as sacrifices. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, who were the officials in charge of the Temple, gave the priests twenty-six hundred sheep and lambs and three hundred bulls to sacrifice during the Passover celebration. 9Conaniah and 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 bulls as Passover sacrifices. 10Thus the service was prepared. The priests took their positions with the Levites according to their divisions, as the king had ordered. 11They slaughtered the Passover lambs. The priests sprinkled the blood with their hands while the Levites skinned the lambs. 12They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the people according to their family divisions. The people could then present them to Jehovah as is written in the Book of Moses. The Levites did the same with the bulls. 13The Levites roasted the Passover sacrifices over the fire, according to the regulations. They boiled the sacred offerings in pots, kettles, and pans, and quickly distributed the meat to the people. 14After this was done, the Levites provided meat for themselves and for the priests descended from Aaron. Since the priests were kept busy until night, burning the animals that were burned whole and the fat of the sacrifices. 15The following musicians of the Levite clan of Asaph were in the places assigned to them by King Davids instructions: Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the kings prophet. The guards at the Temple gates did not need to leave their posts, because the other Levites prepared the Passover for them. 16Everything was done that day as King Josiah commanded for the worship of Jehovah. This included the keeping of the Passover Festival, and the offering of burnt offerings on the altar. 17All the people of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 18The Passover had not been celebrated like this since the days of the prophet Samuel. None of the former kings had ever celebrated a Passover like this one celebrated by King Josiah, the priests, the Levites, and the people of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem 19This was the eighteenth year of Josiahs reign. 20Later, when Josiah had repaired the Temple, King Necho of Egypt came to fight a battle at Carchemish at the Euphrates River. Josiah went to attack him. 21Neco sent messengers to Josiah. He said: »What is your quarrel with me, king of Judah? I am not attacking you. I have come to fight those who are at war with me. God told me to hurry. God is with me, so stop now or he will destroy you.« 22But Josiah would not stop his attack. He disguised himself as he went into battle. He refused to listen to Nechos words, which came from God. He went to fight in the valley of Megiddo. 23Some archers shot King Josiah. The king told his officers: »Take me away because I am badly wounded.« 24His officers took him out of the chariot and brought him to Jerusalem in his other chariot. He died and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25Then Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah. All the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations dirges to this day. They made them an ordinance in Israel. They are also written in the Lamentations. 26The rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion as written in the law of Jehovah, 27and his acts, first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.