2 Chronicles 35:1-19

Josiah Keeps the Passover

35¹ Then Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem , and they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth e day of the first month . ² He set the priests in their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord . ³ He also said to the Levites who taught all Israel and 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 be a burden on your shoulders no longer. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel . ⁴ " Prepare yourselves by your fathers' households in your divisions , according to the writing of David king of Israel and according to the writing of his son Solomon . ⁵ "Moreover, stand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers' households of your brethren the lay people , and according to the Levites , by division of a father's household . ⁶ "Now slaughter the Passover animals, sanctify yourselves and prepare for your brethren to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses ." ⁷ Josiah contributed to the lay people , to all who were present , flocks of lambs and young e goats e , all for the Passover offerings , numbering 30,000 e plus 3,000 e bulls ; these were from the king's possessions . ⁸ His officers also contributed a freewill offering to the people , the priests and the Levites . Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel , the officials of the house of God , gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 e from the flocks and 300 e bulls . ⁹ Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel , his brothers , and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad , the officers of the Levites , contributed to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 e from the flocks and 500 e bulls . ¹⁰ So the service was prepared , and the priests stood at their stations and the Levites by their divisions according to the king's command . ¹¹ They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while the priests sprinkled the blood received from their hand , the Levites skinned them. ¹² Then they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them to the sections of the fathers' households of the lay people to present to the Lord , as it is written in the book of Moses . They did this also with the bulls . ¹³ So they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance , and they boiled the holy things in pots , in kettles , in pans , and carried them speedily to all the lay people . ¹⁴ Afterwards they prepared for themselves and for the priests , because the priests , the sons of Aaron , were offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night ; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests , the sons of Aaron . ¹⁵ The singers , the sons of Asaph , were also at their stations according to the command of David , Asaph , Heman , and Jeduthun the king's seer ; and the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to depart from their service , because the Levites their brethren prepared for them. ¹⁶ So all the service of the Lord was prepared on that day to celebrate the Passover , and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord according to the command of King Josiah . ¹⁷ Thus the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time , and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days . ¹⁸ There had not been celebrated a Passover like it in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet ; nor had any of the kings of Israel celebrated such a Passover as Josiah did with the priests , the Levites , all Judah and Israel who were present , and the inhabitants of Jerusalem . ¹⁹ In the eighteenth e year of Josiah's reign this Passover was celebrated .