CHAPTER 35
1 Forsooth Josiah made pask to the Lord in Jerusalem, the which pask was offered in the fourteenth day of the first month;
2 and he ordained priests in their offices; and commanded them for to serve in the house of the Lord.
3 And he spake to the deacons [or Levites], at whose teaching all Israel was hallowed to the Lord, Set ye [or Putteth] the ark of the Lord in the saintuary of the temple, that Solomon, king of Israel, the son of David builded; for ye shall no more bear it about. But now serve ye the Lord your God, and his people Israel,
4 and make you ready by your houses and meines, in the partings of each by himself, as David, king of Israel, commanded, and as Solomon, his son, ordained;
5 and serve ye in the saintuary by the families and companies of deacons [or Levites],
6 and be ye hallowed, and offer ye pask; also make ready your brethren, that they may do after the words, which the Lord spake by the hand of Moses.
7 Furthermore Josiah gave to all the people, that was found there in the solemnity of pask, that is, to make the solemnity, lambs and kids of the flocks, and of residue sheep he gave thirty thousand, and of oxes [or oxen] three thousand; these things were given of the substance of the king.
8 And his dukes offered those things which they avowed [or vowed] by their free will, as well to the people, as to priests and deacons [or Levites]. And Hilkiah, and Zechariah, and Jehiel, princes of the house of the Lord, gave to [the] priests, to make pask in com-mon, two thousand and six hundred sheep, and three hundred oxen.
9 And Conaniah, and Shemaiah, and Nethaneel, and his brethren, and also Hashabiah, and Jeiel, and Jozabad, the princes of deacons [or Levites], gave to other deacons, to make [the] pask, five thousand of sheep, and five hundred oxen.
10 And the service was made ready; and [the] priests stood in their office, and deacons [or Levites] in their companies, by the commandment of the king;
11 and pask was offered. And [the] priests sprinkled their hands with blood, and deacons [or Levites] drew off the skins of sacrificed beasts,
12 and they parted those sacrifices, for to give them by the houses and meines of all men that were come thither to make pask; and that those sacrifices should be offered to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses; and of oxen they did in like manner.
13 And they roasted the pask lamb upon the fire, after that that is written in the law. And they seethed peace-able sacrifices in pans, and in caul-drons, and in pots, and in haste they dealed it to all the people;
14 but they made ready afterward to themselves, and to priests; for the priests were occupied unto [the] night in the offering of burnt sacrifices and of the inner fatnesses. Wherefore the deacons [or Levites] made ready their part at the last to themselves, and to the priests, the sons of Aaron.
15 And [the] singers, the sons of Asaph, stood in their order, by the commandment of David, and of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, the prophets of the king; but the porters kept their office by each gate, so that they went not away from their service, soothly not in a point, that is, they were in no time absent from their office; wherefore and the deacons [or Levites], their brethren, made ready meats to them.
16 Therefore all the religion of the Lord was fulfilled rightfully in that day, that they made pask, and offered burnt sacrifices upon the altar of the Lord, by the commandment of king Josiah.
17 And the sons of Israel, that were found there, made pask in that time, and the solemnity of therf loaves seven days.
18 No pask was like this in Israel, from the days of Samuel, the prophet; but neither any of the kings of Israel made pask as Josiah did, to [the] priests and deacons [or Levites], and to all Judah and Israel, that was found there, and to the dwellers of Jerusalem.
19 This pask was hallowed in the eighteenth year of the realm of Josiah.
20 After that Josiah had repaired the temple, Necho, the king of Egypt, went up to fight in Charchemish beside Euphrates; and Josiah went forth into his meeting.
21 And Necho said by messengers sent to Josiah, King of Judah, what cause of strife is to me and to thee? I come not against thee today, but I fight against another house, to which God bade me go in haste; cease thou to do thus against God, that is with me, lest he slay thee.
22 But Josiah would not turn again, but he made ready battle against him; and he assented not to the words of Necho, by God’s mouth, but he went for to fight in the field of Megiddo.
23 And there he was wounded of archers, and Josiah said to his children or servants, Lead ye me out of the battle, for I am wounded greatly.
24 And they bare him over from that chariot into another chariot, that pursued [or followed] him, by custom of the king, and they brought him forth into Jerusalem; and he died there, and was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers. And all Judah and Jeru-salem bewailed him,
25 Jeremy mostly, of whom all [the] singers and singeresses till into [the] present day rehearse lamentations, either wailings, on Josiah; and it came forth as a law in Israel, Lo! it is said written in [the] Lamentations.
26 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Josiah, and of his mercies, that be commanded in the law of the Lord,
27 and his works, the first and the last, be written in the book of [the] kings of Israel and of Judah.