He issued this edict because a Passover like this had not been observed since the days of the judges; it was neglected for the entire period of the kings of Israel and Judah.

but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, hath this passover been made to Jehovah in Jerusalem.

Furthermore, Josiah removed the mediums, the necromancers, the household gods, the idols, and every despicable thing that could be seen in the territory of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he might confirm the words of the Law that had been written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the LORD's Temple.

And before him there had been no king like him that turned to Jehovah with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there his like.

only, by the command of Jehovah it hath been against Judah to turn them aside from His presence, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did,

And the king of Egypt hath not added any more to go out from his own land, for the king of Babylon hath taken, from the brook of Egypt unto the river Phrat, all that had been to the king of Egypt.

And he hath removed all Jerusalem, and all the chiefs, and all the mighty ones of valour -- ten thousand is the removal -- and every artificer and smith, none hath been left save the poor of the people of the land.

for, by the anger of Jehovah it hath been against Jerusalem and against Judah, till he cast them out from His presence, that Zedekiah rebelleth against the king of Babylon.

on the ninth of the month -- when the famine is severe in the city, and there hath not been bread for the people of the land,

And the force of the Chaldeans pursue after the king, and overtake him in the plains of Jericho, and all his force have been scattered from him;

The captain of the guard also confiscated the fire pans, basins, and whatever had been crafted of pure gold and pure silver.

And out of the city he took an officer that was in charge over the men of war, and five men of them that had been in the king's presence, who were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city:

And it cometh to pass, in the seventh month, come hath Ishmael son of Nathaniah, son of Elishama of the seed of the kingdom, and ten men with him, and they smite Gedaliah, and he dieth, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who have been with him in Mizpah.

And all the people rise, from small even unto great, and the heads of the forces, and come in to Egypt, for they have been afraid of the presence of the Chaldeans.

Later on, after King Jehoiachin of Judah had been in exile for 37 years, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, during the first year of his reign, King Evil-merodach of Babylon released King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison.

and his allowance -- a continual allowance -- hath been given to him from the king, the matter of a day in its day, all days of his life.