29 ^cThen the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. 31 And the king ^dstood in his place ^eand made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. 32 Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

Josiah Restores the Passover

21 And the king commanded all the people, ^k“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, ^las it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”

Josiah Keeps the Passover

1 ^gJosiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb ^hon the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their offices ⁱand encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. 3 And he said to the Levites ^jwho taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves ^kaccording to your fathers’ houses by your divisions, ^las prescribed in the writing of David king of Israel ^mand the document of Solomon his son. 5 And ⁿstand in the Holy Place ^oaccording to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of your brothers the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by fathers’ household. 6 And slaughter the Passover lamb, and ^pconsecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the Lord by¹ Moses.”

7 Then Josiah contributed to the lay people, as Passover offerings for all who were present, lambs and young goats from the flock to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 bulls; ^qthese were from the king’s possessions. 8 And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. ^rHilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 bulls. 9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 bulls.

10 When the service had been prepared for, the priests ^sstood in their place, ^tand the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command. 11 ^uAnd they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests ^vthrew the blood that they received from them ^wwhile the Levites flayed the sacrifices. 12 And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of the lay people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls. 13 ^xAnd they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the rule; and they ^yboiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the lay people. 14 And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place ^zaccording to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s ^aseer; ^band the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. 17 And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, ^cand the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. 18 ^dNo Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.

Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

To the choirmaster: according to ^fThe Gittith.¹ Of ^gAsaph.

24 Moreover, Josiah put away ⁿthe mediums and the necromancers and ^othe household gods and ^pthe idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish ^qthe words of the law that were written in the book ^rthat Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 25 ^sBefore him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

33 And Josiah took away ^fall the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

26 Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, ^tbecause of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. 27 And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, ^uas I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, ^vand the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”