2 Chronicles 35:25

Laments over Josiah

25 Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers recite laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.

2 Chronicles 35:25 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 35:25

And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah
Composed a lamentation for him, which is now lost; for what is said in ( Lamentations 4:20 ) respects Zedekiah, and not Josiah:

and all the singing men, and all the singing women, spake of Josiah in
their lamentations unto this day;
who were made use of on mournful occasions, as the "preficae" among the Romans, see ( Jeremiah 9:17 ) these in their mournful ditties used to make mention of his name, and the disaster that befell him:

and made them an ordinance in Israel;
an annual constitution, as the Targum calls it, appointing a solemn mourning for him once a year, which Jarchi says was on the ninth of Ab or July:

and, behold, they are written in the lamentations;
not of Jeremiah; though the Targum is,

``lo, they are written in the book which Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah, concerning the lamentations,''

but respect a collection of lamentations on various subjects then in being, but since lost.

2 Chronicles 35:25 In-Context

23 There the archers shot King Josiah, who said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded!”

24 So his servants took him out of his chariot, put him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. And Josiah was buried in the tomb of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

25 Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers recite laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.

26 As for the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of loving devotion according to what is written in the Law of the LORD—

27 his acts from beginning to end—they are indeed written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.