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2 Chronicles 35

Josiah’s great Passover celebration gives way to his refusal of God’s warning through Neco, followed by his death and public mourning.

Josiah gathers the people in Jerusalem for Passover in the eighteenth year of his reign. He assigns priests and Levites their duties and supplies animals from his own possessions, while other leaders also give. The account follows the work of preparing offerings and feeding the worshipers, describing a Passover unmatched since Samuel’s days. Later, Josiah confronts Egypt’s King Neco despite a warning the narrator attributes to God. Josiah is wounded in battle and dies, leaving Judah and Jerusalem mourning.

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1Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem. 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 LORD’s house.
3He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built. It will no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.
4Prepare yourselves after your fathers’ houses by your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.
5Stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of your brothers the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a fathers’ house of the Levites.
6Kill the Passover lamb, sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the LORD’s word by Moses.”
7Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and young goats, 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 substance.
8His princes gave a free will offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the rulers of God’s house, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand six hundred small livestock, and three hundred head of cattle.
9Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small livestock and five hundred head of cattle.
10So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their divisions, according to the king’s commandment.
11They killed the Passover lambs, 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’ houses of the children of the people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle.
13They roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people.
15The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers were at every gate. They didn’t need to depart from their service, because their brothers the Levites prepared for them.
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, nor did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept—with the priests, the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
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, you king of Judah? I come not against you today, but against the house with which I have war. God has commanded me to make haste. Beware that it is 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 didn’t 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, because I am seriously 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.
25Jeremiah 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. 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 LORD’s law,
27and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
2 Chronicles 35:3Josiah directs the Levites to place the ark in the temple and devote their service to God and Israel.
2 Chronicles 35:7The king supplies Passover animals from his own possessions, making his generosity part of the people’s shared worship.
2 Chronicles 35:25Jeremiah’s lament and the singers’ continuing remembrance show how Josiah’s death became an enduring grief in Israel.
Where this chapter reaches

Exodus and Numbers supply the Passover commands reflected in the date and preparation here, while 1 Chronicles shares the arrangements for priests, Levites, and singers. 2 Kings recounts Josiah’s Passover and death at Megiddo; Ezra also describes returned exiles keeping Passover with Levites preparing the sacrifices.

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After reading the whole chapter

What do the Levites’ preparations for singers and gatekeepers reveal about the work behind shared worship?

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How does the account of Josiah’s final battle affect your reading of his earlier obedience?

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Questions people ask about 2 Chronicles 35

Why did Josiah tell the Levites to put the ark in the temple?

Josiah tells the Levites to put the ark in Solomon’s temple and says it will no longer burden their shoulders. The chapter does not explain why it needed to be placed there or where it had been. His instructions then turn to their service in preparing Passover for the people.

Why did Josiah die in battle against Neco?

Josiah goes out to oppose Neco, who warns that God has sent him and that Josiah should stand aside. The narrator identifies Neco’s words as coming from God. Josiah refuses to listen, enters battle in disguise, and is shot. The chapter does not explain why he chose to oppose Neco.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).