1 And Josiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem; on the fourteenth day of the first month they put the Passover lamb to death.

2 And he gave the priests their places, making them strong for the work of the house of God.

3 And he said to the Levites, the teachers of all Israel, who were holy to the Lord, See, the holy ark is in the house which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, made; it will no longer have to be transported on your backs: now be the servants of the Lord your God and his people Israel,

4 And make yourselves ready in your divisions, by your families, as it is ordered in the writings of David, king of Israel, and of Solomon his son;

5 And take your positions in the holy place, grouped in the families of your brothers, the children of the people, and for every division let there be a part of a family of the Levites.

6 And put the Passover lamb to death, and make yourselves holy, and make it ready for your brothers, so that the orders given by the Lord through Moses may be done.

7 And Josiah gave lambs and goats from the flock as Passover offerings for all the people who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand oxen: these were from the king's private property.

8 And his captains freely gave an offering to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand, six hundred small cattle and three hundred oxen.

9 And Conaniah 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 five thousand small cattle and five hundred oxen.

10 So everything was made ready and the priests took their places with the Levites in their divisions, as the king had said.

11 And they put the Passover lambs to death, the blood being drained out by the priests when it was given to them, and the Levites did the skinning.

12 And they took away the burned offerings, so that they might give them to be offered to the Lord for the divisions of the families of the people, as it is recorded in the book of Moses. And they did the same with the oxen.

13 And the Passover lamb was cooked over the fire, as it says in the law; and the holy offerings were cooked in pots and basins and vessels, and taken quickly to all the people.

14 And after that, they made ready for themselves and for the priests; for the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burned offerings and the fat till night; so the Levites made ready what was needed for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

15 And the sons of Asaph, the makers of melody, were in their places, as ordered by David and Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, the king's seer; and the door-keepers were stationed at every door: there was no need for them to go away from their places, for their brothers the Levites made ready for them.

16 So everything needed for the worship of the Lord was made ready that same day, for the keeping of the Passover and the offering of burned offerings on the altar of the Lord, as King Josiah had given orders.

17 And all the children of Israel who were present kept the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread at that time for seven days.

18 No Passover like it had been kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; and not one of the kings of Israel had ever kept a Passover like the one kept by Josiah and the priests and the Levites and all those of Judah and Israel who were present, and the people of Jerusalem.

19 In the eighteenth year of the rule of Josiah this Passover was kept.

20 After all this, and after Josiah had put the house in order, Neco, king of Egypt, went up to make war at Carchemish by the river Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him.

21 But he sent representatives to him, saying, What have I to do with you, O king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, but against those with whom I am at war; and God has given me orders to go forward quickly: keep out of God's way, for he is with me, or he will send destruction on you.

22 However, Josiah would not go back; but keeping to his purpose of fighting against him, and giving no attention to the words of Neco, which came from God, he went forward to the fight in the valley of Megiddo.

23 And the bowmen sent their arrows at King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, Take me away, for I am badly wounded.

24 So his servants took him out of the line of war-carriages, and put him in his second carriage and took him to Jerusalem, where he came to his end, and they put his body in the resting-place of his fathers. And in all Judah and Jerusalem there was great weeping for Josiah.

25 And Jeremiah made a song of grief for Josiah; and to this day Josiah is named by all the makers of melody, men and women, in their songs of grief; they made it a rule in Israel; and the songs are recorded among the songs of grief.

26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and the good he did, in keeping with what is recorded in the law of the Lord,

27 And all his acts, first and last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

1 Josias anunciou que a Páscoa seria celebrada no primeiro dia de Abril, em Jerusalém. O cordeiro pascal seria morto no fim desse dia.

2 Restabeleceu as funções dos sacerdotes, instigando-os a que retomassem o serviço no templo. Emitiu também a seguinte ordem aos levitas que se tinham consagrado, e que se dedicavam ao ensino em Israel: Visto que a arca está definitivamente depositada no templo que Salomão mandou construiur, e sendo que não precisam mais de a carregar aos ombros de um lugar para outro, apliquem o vosso tempo ao serviço do Senhor junto do seu povo. Distribuam-se conforme os turnos de actividade em que estavam organizados os vossos antecessores, tal como foram agrupados pelo rei David e pelo seu filho Salomão, monarcas de Israel. Cada turno dará assistência a um particular clã do povo que venha trazer as suas oferendas ao templo. Matem o cordeiro pascal e santifiquem-se; preparem-se para dar assistência ao povo que se apresentar. Sigam todas as instruções do Senhor, dadas através de Moisés.

7 O rei contribuiu com trinta mil cordeiros e novilhos para as ofertas populares da Páscoa, e ainda com mais três mil bois. Os governantes fizeram também contribuições voluntárias aos sacerdotes e aos levitas. Hilquias, Zacarias e Jeiel, os supervisores do templo, deram aos sacerdotes duas mil e seiscentas ovelhas e cabritos e trezentos bois, como ofertas de Páscoa. Os líderes levitas -Conanias, Semaías e Netanel, com os seus irmãos Hasabias, Jeiel, e Jozabade- deram cinco mil ovelhas e cabritos mais quinhentos bois aos levitas.

10 Quando tudo estava organizado e os sacerdotes se encontravam nos seus lugares, com os levitas formados em turnos de serviço, conforme as instruções reais, então os levitas começaram a matança dos cordeiros pascais, apresentando o sangue aos sacerdotes, que o aspergiam sobre o altar enquanto outros levitas arrancaram a pele dos animais. Amontoavam seguidamente os corpos dos animais mortos para que cada tribo apresentasse o seu holocausto ao Senhor, tal como está escrito na lei de Moisés. Fizeram o mesmo com os bois. Então, de acordo com as instruções da lei, assaram os cordeiros e cozeram as ofertas sagradas em caldeiras, panelas e sertãs, apressando-se em reparti-las entre o povo, para que comesse. A seguir os levitas prepararam a sua própria refeição, para si e para os sacerdotes, pois tinham estado ocupados desde a manhã até à noite oferecendo a gordura das ofertas queimadas.

15 Os cantores (os filhos de Asafe) estavam nos seus lugares, segundo as directrizes dadas séculos antes pelo rei David, por Asafe, por Hemã e por Jedutum, o profeta do rei. Os porteiros encontravam-se às entradas do templo, e não tiveram necessidade de abandonar os seus lugares, porque as refeições foram-lhe trazidas pelos outros levitas seus irmãos. Assim se completou toda a cerimónia da Páscoa num só dia. Todos os holocaustos foram queimados sobre o altar do Senhor, conforme as ordens de Josias.

17 Toda a gente presente em Jerusalém participou nesta celebração da Páscoa, que foi seguida pela festa dos pães asmos, durante os sete dias posteriores. Nunca tinha havido, desde o tempo do profeta Samuel, uma tal celebração de Páscoa - nem um só dos reis de Israel fez uma tal festividade, envolvendo tantos sacerdotes, levitas, e povo de Jerusalém e de toda a parte de Judá, além de outros sítios de Israel.

19 Tudo isto aconteceu no décimo oitavo ano do reinado de Josias.

20 Algum tempo depois, o rei Neco do Egipto levou o seu exército a combater contra os assírios em Carquemis, na margem do rio Eufrates; e Josias declarou-lhe guerra.

21 O rei Neco do Egipto mandou-lhe embaixadores com a seguinte mensagem: Não estou interessado em lutar contigo, ó rei de Judá! O meu intuito é unicamente fazer guerra ao rei da Assíria! Não te metas comigo! Deus disse-me que não me detesse. Não interfiras com as ordens de Deus, se não serás destruído, pois Deus está do meu lado.

22 Mas Josias recusou alterar a sua posição e conduziu o exército à batalha, no vale de Megido. (Tirou de si as roupas reais, para que o inimigo não o reconhecesse.) Josias não quis pois acreditar que a mensagem de Neco era de Deus. Os archeiros inimigos atingiram gravemente o rei Josias. Tirem-me daqui, do meio da batalha, clamou ele aos seus ajudantes.

24 Tiraram-no então do carro de combate, levaram-no para outro carro e conduziram-no para Jerusalém, onde acabou por morrer. Foi enterrado no cemitério real. Todo o reino de Judá e a população de Jerusalém, entre a qual vivia o profeta Jeremias, chorou a sua morte. Nas exéquias fúnebres, cantou o coro do templo. E ainda hoje se cantam os coros fúnebres da cerimónia do seu enterro, pois foram incorporados na colectânea de elegias.

26 Outras actividades de Josias, as suas louváveis acções, a forma como seguiu a palavra do Senhor, tudo está escrito nos Anais dos Reis de Israel e de Judá.