2 Chronicles 35:20-24

Josiah Dies in Battle

20 ¹After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at ²Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to engage him.

21 But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, "³What 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 ⁴disguised himself in order to make war with him; nor did he listen to the words of Neco ⁵from the mouth of God, but came to make war on the plain of ⁶Megiddo.

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. ⁷All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

2 Chronicles 35:20-24 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.

Cross References

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

Footnotes

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