Study Desk

Then Josiah ^(C1)celebrated the Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and ^(C2)they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month.

He appointed the priests to their offices and ^(C1)encouraged them in the service of the house of the LORD.

He also said to ^(C1)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; ^(C2)it will not be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel.

"^(C1)Prepare yourselves by your fathers' households in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel and ^(C2)according to the writing of his son Solomon.

"Furthermore, ^(C1)stand in the holy place according to the sections of the fathers' households of your countrymen, the ^(F1)lay people, and according to the Levites, by division of a father's household.

"Now ^(C1)slaughter the Passover animals, ^(C2)keep one another consecrated, and prepare for your countrymen to act in accordance with the word of the LORD by Moses."

Josiah contributed to the lay people, to all who were present, flocks of lambs and young goats, all for the Passover offerings, numbering thirty thousand, plus three thousand bulls; these were from the king's property.

His officers also contributed a ^(F1)voluntary offering to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, ^(C1)the officials of the house of God, gave the priests 2,600 from the flocks and three hundred bulls, for the Passover offerings.

^(C1)Conaniah also, and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the officers of the Levites, contributed five thousand from the flocks and five hundred bulls to the Levites for the Passover offerings.

So the service was prepared, and ^(C1)the priests stood at their positions and the Levites by their divisions according to the king's command.

^(F1)(C1)They slaughtered the Passover animals, and while ^(C2)the priests ^(F2)sprinkled the blood received from their hand, ^(C3)the Levites skinned the animals.

Then they removed the burnt offerings so 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 with the bulls as well.

So ^(C1)they roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled ^(C2)the holy things in pots, in kettles, and in pans and carried them quickly to all the lay people.

Afterward 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; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also at their positions ^(C1)according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and ^(C2)the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to leave their service, because their kinsmen the Levites prepared for them.

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.

And ^(C1)the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

^(C1)There had not been a Passover celebrated 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.

In the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign this Passover was celebrated.