Josias celebrateth a most solemn pasch. He is slain by the king of
Egypt.
35:1. And Josias kept a phase to the Lord in Jerusalem, and it was
sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month.
35:2. And he set the priests in their offices, and exhorted them to
minister in the house of the Lord.
35:3. And he spoke to the Levites, by whose instruction all Israel was
sanctified to the Lord, saying: Put the ark in the sanctuary of the
temple, which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built: for you
shall carry it no more: but minister now to the Lord your God, and to
his people Israel.
35:4. And prepare yourselves by your houses, and families according to
your courses, as David king of Israel commanded, and Solomon his son
hath written.
35:5. And serve ye in the sanctuary by the families and companies of
Levi.
35:6. And being sanctified kill the phase, and prepare your brethren,
that they may do according to the words which the Lord spoke by the hand
of Moses.
35:7. And Josias gave to all the people that were found there in the
solemnity of the phase, of lambs and of kids of the flocks, and of other
small cattle thirty thousand, and of oxen three thousand, all these were
of the king's substance.
35:8. And his princes willingly offered what they had vowed, both to the
people and to the priests and the Levites. Moreover Helcias, and
Zacharias, and Jahiel rulers of the house of the Lord, gave to the
priests to keep the phase two thousand six hundred small cattle, and
three hundred oxen.
35:9. And Chonenias, and Semeias and Nathanael, his brethren, and
Hasabias, and Jehiel, and Jozabad princes of the Levites, gave to the
rest of the Levites to celebrate the phase five thousand small cattle,
and five hundred oxen.
35:10. And the ministry was prepared, and the priests stood in their
office: the Levites also in their companies, according to the king's
commandment.
35:11. And the phase was immolated: and the priests sprinkled the blood
with their hand, and the Levites flayed the holocausts:
35:12. And they separated them, to give them by the houses and families
of every one, and to be offered to the Lord, as it is written in the
book of Moses, and with the oxen they did in like manner.
35:13. And they roasted the phase with fire, according to that which is
written in the law: but the victims of peace offerings they boiled in
caldrons, and kettles, and pots, and they distributed them speedily
among all the people.
35:14. And afterwards they made ready for themselves, and for the
priests: for the priests were busied in offering of holocausts and the
fat until night, wherefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for
the priests the sons of Aaron last.
35:15. And the singers the sons of Asaph stood in their order, according
to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Idithun, the
prophets of the king: and the porters kept guard at every gate, so as
not to depart one moment from their service, and therefore their
brethren the Levites prepared meats for them.
35:16. So all the service of the Lord was duly accomplished that day,
both in keeping the phase and offering holocausts upon the altar of the
Lord, according to the commandment of king Josias.
35:17. And the children of Israel that were found there, kept the phase
at that time, and the feast of unleavened seven days.
35:18. There was no phase like to this in Israel, from the days of
Samuel the prophet: neither did any of all the kings of Israel keep such
a phase as Josias kept, with the priests, and the Levites, and all Juda,
and Israel that were found, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
35:19. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josias was this phase
celebrated.
35:20. After that Josias had repaired the temple, Nechao king of Egypt
came up to fight in Charcamis by the Euphrates: and Josias went out to
meet him.
35:21. But he sent messengers to him, saying: What have I to do with
thee, O king of Juda? I come not against thee this day, but I fight
against another house, to which God hath commanded me to go in haste:
forbear to do against God, who is with me, lest he kill thee.
35:22. Josias would not return, but prepared to fight against him, and
hearkened not to the words of Nechao from the mouth of God, but went to
fight in the field of Mageddo.
35:23. And there he was wounded by the archers, and he said to his
servants: Carry me out of the battle, for I am grievously wounded.
35:24. And they removed him from the chariot into another, that followed
him after the manner of kings, and they carried him away to Jerusalem,
and he died, and was buried in the monument of his fathers, and all Juda
and Jerusalem mourned for him,
35:25. Particularly Jeremias: whose lamentations for Josias all the
singing men and singing women repeat unto this day, and it became like a
law in Israel: Behold it is found written in the Lamentations.
35:26. Now the rest of the acts of Josias and of his mercies, according
to what was commanded by the law of the Lord:
35:27. And his works first and last, are written in the book of the
kings of Juda and Israel.