2 Tawarikh 34:1-13

Josiah Institutes Religious Reforms

34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ¹  34:2 He did what the Lord approved ²  and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; ³  he did not deviate to the right or the left.

34:3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor ⁴  David. In his twelfth year he began ridding ⁵  Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherah poles, idols, and images. 34:4 He ordered the altars of the Baals to be torn down, ⁶  and broke the incense altars that were above them. He smashed the Asherah poles, idols and images, crushed them up and sprinkled the dust over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them. 34:5 He burned the bones of the pagan priests ⁷  on their altars; he purified Judah and Jerusalem. 34:6 In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins ⁸  around them, 34:7 he tore down the altars and Asherah poles, demolished the idols, and smashed all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

34:8 In the eighteenth year of his reign, he continued his policy of purifying the land and the temple. ⁹  He sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the city official, and Joah son of Joahaz the secretary to repair the temple of the Lord his God. 34:9 They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the silver that had been brought to God’s temple. The Levites who guarded the door had collected it from the people of ¹⁰  Manasseh and Ephraim and from all who were left in Israel, as well as from all the people of ¹¹  Judah and Benjamin and the residents of ¹²  Jerusalem. 34:10 They handed it over to the construction foremen ¹³  assigned to the Lord’s temple. They in turn paid the temple workers to restore and repair it. ¹⁴  34:11 They gave money to the craftsmen and builders to buy chiseled stone and wood for the braces and rafters of the buildings that the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into disrepair. ¹⁵  34:12 The men worked faithfully. Their supervisors were Jahath and Obadiah (Levites descended from Merari), as well as Zechariah and Meshullam (descendants of Kohath). The Levites, all of whom were skilled musicians, 34:13 supervised the laborers and all the foremen on their various jobs. ¹⁶  Some of the Levites were scribes, officials, and guards.

2 Tawarikh 35:1-19

Josiah Observes the Passover

35:1 Josiah observed a Passover festival for the Lord in Jerusalem. ¹⁷  They slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month. 35:2 He appointed the priests to fulfill their duties and encouraged them to carry out their service in the Lord’s temple. 35:3 He told the Levites, who instructed all Israel about things consecrated to the Lord, “Place the holy ark in the temple which King Solomon son of David of Israel built. Don’t carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel! 35:4 Prepare yourselves by your families according to your divisions, as instructed ¹⁸  by King David of Israel and his son Solomon. 35:5 Stand in the sanctuary and, together with the Levites, represent the family divisions of your countrymen. ¹⁹  35:6 Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your countrymen to do what the Lord commanded through Moses.” ²⁰ 

35:7 From his own royal flocks and herds, Josiah supplied the people with 30,000 lambs and goats for the Passover sacrifice, as well as 3,000 cattle. ²¹  35:8 His officials also willingly contributed to the people, priests, and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the leaders of God’s temple, supplied 2,600 Passover sacrifices and 300 cattle. 35:9 Konaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, along with Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the officials of the Levites, supplied the Levites with 5,000 Passover sacrifices and 500 cattle. 35:10 Preparations were made, ²²  and the priests stood at their posts and the Levites in their divisions as prescribed by the king. 35:11 They slaughtered the Passover lambs and the priests splashed the blood, ²³  while the Levites skinned the animals. 35:12 They reserved the burnt offerings and the cattle for the family divisions of the people to present to the Lord, as prescribed in the scroll of Moses. ²⁴  35:13 They cooked the Passover sacrifices over the open fire as prescribed and cooked the consecrated offerings in pots, kettles, and pans. They quickly served them to all the people. 35:14 Afterward they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were offering burnt sacrifices and fat portions until evening. The Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron. 35:15 The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, manned their posts, as prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s prophet. ²⁵  The guards at the various gates did not need to leave their posts, for their fellow Levites made preparations for them. 35:16 So all the preparations for the Lord’s service were made that day, as the Passover was observed and the burnt sacrifices were offered on the altar of the Lord, as prescribed by King Josiah. 35:17 So the Israelites who were present observed the Passover at that time, as well as the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. 35:18 A Passover like this had not been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had observed a Passover like the one celebrated by Josiah, the priests, the Levites, all the people of Judah and Israel who were there, and the residents of Jerusalem. 35:19 This Passover was observed in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

[34:1]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[34:2]  ² tn Heb “he did what was proper in the eyes of the Lord.”

[34:2]  ³ tn Heb “and walked in the ways of David his father.”

[34:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “father.”

[34:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “purifying.”

[34:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they tore down before him the altars of the Baals.”

[34:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “the priests”; the qualifying adjective “pagan” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:6]  ⁸ tn “In their ruins” is the marginal reading (Qere) of the Hebrew text.

[34:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “to purify the land and the house.”

[34:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from Manasseh and Ephraim.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the names “Manasseh and Ephraim” here by metonymy for the people of Manasseh and Ephraim.

[34:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all Judah and Benjamin.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the names “Judah and Benjamin” here by metonymy for the people of Judah and Benjamin.

[34:9]  ¹² tc The Hebrew consonantal text (Kethib) assumes the reading, “and the residents of.” The marginal reading (Qere) is “and they returned.”

[34:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “doer[s] of the work.”

[34:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and they gave it to the doers of the work who were working in the house of the Lord to restore and to repair the house.”

[34:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “of the houses that the kings of Judah had destroyed.”

[34:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[were] over the laborers and were directing every doer of work for work assignment and work assignment.”

[35:1]  ¹⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[35:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “written.”

[35:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and stand in the sanctuary by the divisions of the house of the fathers for your brothers, the sons of the people, and a division of the house of a father for the Levites.”

[35:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.”

[35:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “and Josiah supplied for the sons of the people sheep, lambs and sons of goats, the whole for the Passover sacrifices for everyone who was found according to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand cattle. These were from the property of the king.”

[35:10]  ²² tn Heb “and the service was prepared.”

[35:11]  ²³ tn Heb “from their hand.”

[35:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and they put aside the burnt offering[s] to give them to the divisions of the house of the fathers for the sons of the people to bring near to the Lord as it is written in the scroll of Moses – and the same with the cattle.”

[35:15]  ²⁵ tn Or “seer.”