And he said to the Levites, the mighty men in all Israel, that they should sanctify themselves to the Lord; and they put the holy ark in the house which Salomon son of David king of Israel had built. And the king said, You have no need to carry anything upon your shoulders; now therefore minister to the Lord your God and to his people Israel.
And prepare yourselves according to the houses of your families and according to your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and by the hand of Salomon his son.
And stand in the house according to the divisions of the ancestral houses, for your brothers the sons of the people; and a portion of an ancestral house is for the Levites.
And Josias gave as firstfruits to the sons of the people sheep and lambs and kids of the young of the goats, all for the passover, for all that were found, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand calves: these were from the king's substance.
And his rulers gave firstfruits to the people, and to the priests, and to the Levites. Chelkias and Zacharias and Iiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests; and they gave for the passover sheep and lambs and kids, two thousand six hundred, and three hundred calves.
And Chonenias and Banaias and Samaias and Nathanael his brother, and Asabia and Iiel and Iozabad, the rulers of the Levites, gave firstfruits to the Levites for the passover, five thousand sheep and five hundred calves.
And they prepared the whole burnt offering to deliver it to them according to the division, according to the ancestral houses, for the sons of the people, to bring it near to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses; and so also in the morning.
And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance, and boiled the holy things in the copper vessels and in the cauldrons; and it prospered, and they ran to all the sons of the people.
And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests; for the priests were engaged in offering up the fat pieces and the whole burnt offerings until night; and so the Levites prepared for themselves and for their brothers the sons of Aaron.
And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were at their station, according to the commandments of David, and of Asaph and Aiman and Idithon the prophets of the king; and the rulers and the gatekeepers at gate after gate: they were not to move from the ministry of the holy things, for their brothers the Levites had prepared for them.
And all the service of the Lord was made ready and prepared on that day, to keep the passover and to offer the whole burnt offerings upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of king Josias.
And there was no passover like it in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; nor did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josias kept, with the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel that was present and the inhabitants in Jerusalem, to the Lord.
In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josias. And the mediums, and the wizards, and the tharaphin, and the idols, and the karasim that were in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, king Josias burned with fire, that he might establish the words of the law that are written in the book which Chelkias the priest found in the house of the Lord. There was none like him before him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the law of Moses; and after him there rose up none like him. Nevertheless the Lord did not turn away from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which the Lord was angry in his anger against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh provoked him. And the Lord said, I will also remove Judah from my presence, just as I removed Israel; and I have cast off the city which I chose, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.
And he sent messengers to him, saying, What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I have not come against you today to make war; and God told me to make haste. Beware of the God who is with me, lest he destroy you.
But Josias did not turn his face away from him; rather he strengthened himself to fight against him, and did not hearken to the words of Nechao from the mouth of God; and he came to fight in the plain of Mageddo.
And his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him on the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried with his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josias.
And Jeremias lamented over Josias; and all the rulers and the ruling women uttered a lament over Josias until this day; and they made it an ordinance for Israel; and behold, it is written among the lamentations.