And he said to the Levites, that taught all Israel, and who were holy to Jehovah, Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built; ye have not to carry it upon your shoulders. Serve now Jehovah your God, and his people Israel;

and prepare yourselves by your fathers' houses, in your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son;

and stand in the sanctuary for the classes of the fathers' houses, for your brethren, the children of the people, and according to the divisions of the fathers' houses of the Levites;

and slaughter the passover, and hallow yourselves, and prepare it for your brethren, that they may do according to the word of Jehovah through Moses.

And Josiah gave for the children of the people a heave-offering of the flocks, lambs and goats, all for the passover-offerings, for all that were present to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance.

And his princes gave a voluntary heave-offering for the people, for the priests, and for the Levites: Hilkijah and Zechariah and Jehiel, rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the passover-offerings two thousand six hundred small cattle and three hundred oxen;

and Conaniah, and Shemaiah and Nethaneel, his brethren, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, chief of the Levites, gave as heave-offering to the Levites for the passover-offerings five thousand small cattle and five hundred oxen.

And the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions, according to the king's commandment.

And they slaughtered the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hand, and the Levites flayed them.

And they set apart the burnt-offerings to give them to the classes of the fathers' houses of the children of the people, to present them to Jehovah, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.

And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance; and the consecrated things they boiled in pots and in cauldrons and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the children of the people.

And afterwards they made ready for themselves and for the priests; because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were engaged in offering up the burnt-offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; and the doorkeepers were at every gate; they had not to depart from their service, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

And all the service of Jehovah was prepared the same day, to hold the passover, and to offer burnt-offerings on the altar of Jehovah according to the commandment of king Josiah.

And the children of Israel that were present held the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

And there was no passover like to that holden in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel hold such a passover as Josiah held, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

After all this, when Josiah had arranged the house, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Karkemish at the Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him.

And he sent messengers to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house with which I have war; and God has told me to make haste: keep aloof from God who is with me, that he destroy thee not.

But Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight against him; and he hearkened not to the words of Necho from the mouth of God; and he came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away, for I am sore wounded.

And his servants took him out from the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died, and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day; and they made them an ordinance for Israel. And behold, they are written in the lamentations.

And the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the law of Jehovah,

and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead, in Jerusalem.

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and imposed a fine upon the land of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah his God.

Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him with chains of brass to carry him to Babylon.

And Nebuchadnezzar carried part of the vessels of the house of Jehovah to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.

And the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem; and he did evil in the sight of Jehovah.

And at the turn of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent and had him brought to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of Jehovah; and he made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah his God; he humbled not himself before the prophet Jeremiah speaking from the mouth of Jehovah.

And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take oath by God; and he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from returning to Jehovah the God of Israel.

All the chiefs of the priests also, and the people, increased their transgressions, according to all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of Jehovah which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

And Jehovah the God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending; because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling-place.

But they mocked at the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the fury of Jehovah rose against his people, and there was no remedy.

And he brought up against them the king of the Chaldees, and slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and spared not young man nor maiden, old man nor him of hoary head: he gave them all into his hand.

And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, he brought all to Babylon.

And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and all the precious vessels thereof were given up to destruction.

And them that had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they became servants to him and his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia;

And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, and he made a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also in writing, saying,

Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth has Jehovah the God of the heavens given to me, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all his people, Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up.

And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, and he made a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also in writing, saying,

Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth has Jehovah the God of the heavens given to me, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Whosoever there is among you of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Jehovah the God of Israel he is God which is at Jerusalem.

And whosoever remains in any place where he sojourns, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the voluntary offering for the house of God which is at Jerusalem.

And the chief fathers of Judah and Benjamin rose up, and the priests, and the Levites, even all those whose spirit God had stirred, to go up to build the house of Jehovah which is at Jerusalem.

And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered.

And king Cyrus brought forth the vessels of the house of Jehovah, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem and had put in the house of his god.

And Cyrus king of Persia brought them forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine-and-twenty knives,

thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.

All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred. The whole did Sheshbazzar bring up, when they of the captivity were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

And these are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one to his city,

The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two.

The children of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two.

The children of Arah, seven hundred and seventy-five.

The children of Pahath-Moab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve.

The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred and fifty-four.