2 Chronicles 35: Josiah’s Reforms and Passover Celebration – Clear & Engaging Audio Bible Reading | Rediscovering God’s Word, Restoring the Temple, and Reviving the Nation

Immerse yourself in the powerful events of 2 Chronicles 35 with this clear and engaging audio recording. Rediscover the importance of God’s Word as King Josiah sets out to restore the house of the Lord, experience the Passover celebration and revival of the people, and witness Josiah’s commitment to follow the Lord. Perfect for study, reflection, or meditation, delve into this inspiring chapter and let the Scriptures come alive.

2 CHRONICLES 35 (NIV)

1 Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the Passover
lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.

2 He appointed
the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s
temple.

3 He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been
consecrated to the Lord: “Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of
David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders.
Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel.

4 Prepare yourselves by
families in your divisions, according to the instructions written by David
king of Israel and by his son Solomon.

5 “Stand in the holy place with a group of Levites for each subdivision of the
families of your fellow Israelites, the lay people.

6 Slaughter the Passover
lambs, consecrate yourselves and prepare the lambs for your fellow Israelites,
doing what the Lord commanded through Moses.”

7 Josiah provided for all the lay people who were there a total of thirty
thousand lambs and goats for the Passover offerings, and also three thousand
cattle—all from the king’s own possessions.

8 His officials also contributed voluntarily to the people and the priests and
Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the officials in charge of God’s
temple, gave the priests twenty-six hundred Passover offerings and three
hundred cattle.

9 Also Konaniah along with Shemaiah and Nethanel, his
brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites,
provided five thousand Passover offerings and five hundred head of cattle for
the Levites.

10 The service was arranged and the priests stood in their places with the
Levites in their divisions as the king had ordered.

11 The Passover lambs were
slaughtered, and the priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to
them, while the Levites skinned the animals.

12 They set aside the burnt
offerings to give them to the subdivisions of the families of the people to
offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same
with the cattle.

13 They roasted the Passover animals over the fire as
prescribed, and boiled the holy offerings in pots, caldrons and pans and
served them quickly to all the people.

14 After this, they made preparations
for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of
Aaron, were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat portions until
nightfall. So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the Aaronic
priests.

15 The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, were in the places prescribed by
David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun the king’s seer. The gatekeepers at each gate
did not need to leave their posts, because their fellow Levites made the
preparations for them.

16 So at that time the entire service of the Lord was carried out for the
celebration of the Passover and the offering of burnt offerings on the altar
of the Lord, as King Josiah had ordered.

17 The Israelites who were present
celebrated the Passover at that time and observed the Festival of Unleavened
Bread for seven days.

18 The Passover had not been observed like this in
Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel
had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the
Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem.

19 This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

20 After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Necho king of
Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out
to meet him in battle.

21 But Necho sent messengers to him, saying, “What
quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am
attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me
to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”

22 Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to
engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Necho had said at God’s
command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo.

23 Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, “Take me away; I am
badly wounded.”

24 So they took him out of his chariot, put him in his other
chariot and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the
tombs of his ancestors, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

25 Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the male and
female singers commemorate Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in
Israel and are written in the Laments.

26 The other events of Josiah’s reign and his acts of devotion in accordance
with what is written in the Law of the Lord—

27 all the events, from beginning
to end, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.