2 Chronicles 35:16-26

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 ¹the sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days.

18 ²There 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 * year of Josiah's reign this Passover was celebrated.

Josiah Dies in Battle

20 ³After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at ⁴Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him.

21 But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, "⁵What have we to do with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today but against the house with which I am at war, and God has ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is with me, so that He will not destroy you."

22 However, Josiah would not turn away from him, but ⁶disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco ⁷from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of ⁸Megiddo.

23 The archers shot 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 chariot and carried him in the second chariot which he had, and brought him to Jerusalem where he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. ⁹All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

25 Then ¹⁰Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations to this day. And they made them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are also written in the Lamentations.

26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion as written in the law of the LORD,

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2 Chronicles 35:16-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 35

In this chapter we have an account of the keeping of the passover and its preparation, for which the priests and Levites were ordered to prepare, and to which Josiah, and his princes, gave liberally, and such an one was kept as had not been for ages past, 2Ch 35:1-19, and of Josiah's rash engagement in battle with the king of Egypt, in which he was slain, 2Ch 35:20-23 and of the great lamentations that were made for him, 2Ch 35:24-27.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 10

1. Exodus 12:1-20; 2 Chronicles 30:21
2. 2 Kings 23:21; 2 Chronicles 30:5
3. 2 Kings 23:29, 30
4. Isaiah 10:9; Jeremiah 46:2
5. 2 Chronicles 25:19
6. 2 Chronicles 18:29
7. 2 Chronicles 35:21
8. Judges 5:19
9. Zechariah 12:11
10. Jeremiah 22:10; Lamentations 4:20

Footnotes 4

[a]. Lit "house"
[b]. Lit "he"
[c]. Lit "his face"
[d]. Lit "and"