Josiah Celebrates the Passover^(A)

35 King Josiah ·celebrated [kept; observed] the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. The Passover lamb was ·killed [slaughtered] on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² Josiah ·chose [appointed; assigned] the priests to ·do their duties [fulfill their offices], and he encouraged them as they served in the ·Temple [^Lhouse] of the Lord. ³ The Levites taught the Israelites and were ·made holy [set apart] for service to the Lord. Josiah said to them, “Put the Holy Ark in the ·Temple [^Lhouse] that David’s son Solomon, the king of Israel, built. Do not carry it from place to place on your shoulders anymore. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. ⁴ Prepare yourselves by your family ·groups [divisions] for service, and do the jobs that King David and his son Solomon ·gave [wrote down for] you to do.

⁵ “Stand in the ·holy place [sanctuary] with a ·group [division] of the Levites for each family group of the people. ⁶ ·Kill [Slaughter] the Passover lambs, and ·make yourselves holy [consecrate/purify/sanctify yourselves] to the Lord. Prepare for your relatives, the people of Israel, to do as the Lord through Moses commanded.”

⁷ Josiah ·gave [provided] the Israelites thirty thousand sheep and goats to ·kill [slaughter] for the Passover sacrifices, and he gave them three thousand cattle. They were all his own ·animals [property].

⁸ Josiah’s ·officers [officials] also gave willingly to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the ·officers [officials] in charge of the ·Temple [^Lhouse], gave the priests twenty-six hundred lambs and goats and three hundred cattle for Passover ·sacrifices [offerings]. ⁹ Conaniah, his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad gave the Levites five thousand sheep and goats and five hundred cattle for Passover sacrifices. These men were ·leaders [officials] of the Levites.

¹⁰ When everything was ready for the Passover service, the priests and Levites in their divisions went to their ·places [stations], as the king had commanded. ¹¹ The Passover lambs were ·killed [slaughtered]. Then the Levites skinned the animals and gave the blood to the priests, who ·sprinkled [splashed] it on the altar. ¹² Then they ·gave [divided; set aside] the animals for the burnt offerings to the different family ·groups [divisions] so the burnt offerings [Lev. 1:1–17] could be ·offered [sacrificed] to the Lord as was written in the ·book [scroll] of Moses. They also did this with the cattle. ¹³ The Levites roasted the Passover sacrifices over the fire as ·they were commanded [prescribed], and they boiled the ·holy [consecrated] offerings in pots, kettles, and pans. Then they quickly ·gave [served] the meat to the people. ¹⁴ After this was finished, the Levites prepared meat for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron. The priests worked until night, offering the burnt offerings [Lev. 1:1–17] and burning the fat of the sacrifices.

¹⁵ The Levite singers ·from Asaph’s family [descended from Asaph] stood in ·the places chosen for them by [their stations as prescribed by] King David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun [5:12], the king’s ·seer [prophet]. The gatekeepers at each gate did not have to leave their ·places [posts], because their fellow Levites had prepared ·everything for them for the Passover [^Lfor them].

¹⁶ So everything was ·done [completed] that day for the ·worship [service] of the Lord, as King Josiah commanded. The Passover was ·celebrated [kept; observed], and the burnt offerings were ·offered [sacrificed] on the Lord’s altar. ¹⁷ The Israelites who were there ·celebrated [kept; observed] the Passover and the ·Feast [Festival] of Unleavened Bread for seven days. ¹⁸ The Passover had not been ·celebrated [observed; kept] like this in Israel since the prophet Samuel was alive [^Cover four hundred years earlier]. None of the kings of Israel had ever ·celebrated [kept; observed] a Passover like the one ·celebrated [kept; observed] by King Josiah, the priests, the Levites, the people of Judah and Israel who were there, and the people of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ This Passover was ·celebrated [kept; observed] in the eighteenth year Josiah ·was king [reigned].

Josiah Celebrates the Passover^(A)

²¹ The king commanded all the people, “·Celebrate [Observe] the Passover to the Lord your God as it is written in this Book of the ·Agreement [Treaty; Covenant; Ex. 12].” ²² The Passover had not been ·celebrated [observed] like this since the judges ·led [ruled; judged] Israel. Nor had one like it happened ·while there were [in all the days/years of the] kings of Israel and kings of Judah. ²³ This Passover was ·celebrated [observed] to the Lord in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s rule.

²⁴ Josiah ·destroyed [removed; got rid of] the mediums, ·fortune-tellers [spiritualists], house gods, and idols. He also ·destroyed [removed; got rid of] all the ·hated gods [detestable/abominable practices] seen in the land of Judah and Jerusalem. This was to ·obey [fulfill; confirm] the words of the ·teachings [law; ^Ltorah] written in the ·book [scroll] Hilkiah the priest had found in the ·Temple [^Lhouse] of the Lord.

²⁵ There was no king like Josiah before or after him. He ·obeyed [^Lturned to] the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength [cf. Mark 12:30, 33; Luke 10:27], following all the ·Teachings [Law; ^Ltorah] of Moses.

²⁶ Even so, the Lord did not ·stop [^Lturn from] ·his strong and terrible [^Lthe heat of his great] anger. His anger burned against Judah because of all Manasseh had done to ·make him angry [provoke/arouse him to anger]. ²⁷ The Lord said, “I will ·send [remove] Judah out of my sight, as I have ·sent Israel away [removed Israel]. I will ·reject [cast away] Jerusalem, which I chose. And I will take away the ·Temple [^Lhouse] about which I said, ‘·I will be worshiped [^LMy name will be] there.’”