1 Ezra 1

1Josiah kept the Passover to his Lord in Jerusalem. He sacrificed the paschal lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month.

2He then placed the priests in the Lord's temple according to their divisions, clothed in their vestments.

3He told the Levites, Israel's servants in the temple, to sanctify themselves to the Lord and to place the holy ark of the Lord in the house that King Solomon, son of David, had built. For he said, 'No longer will you carry the ark upon your shoulders.

4Now serve the Lord your God, and heal His people Israel. Prepare yourselves according to your families and tribes, according to the writing of King David of Israel and the magnificence of Solomon his son.

5Stand in the temple in your proper order before your brothers, the children of Israel, and according to the office of your paternal families, the Levites.

6Sacrifice the paschal lamb, prepare the sacrifices for your brothers, and keep the Passover according to the Lord's commandment given to Moses.'

7Josiah gave thirty thousand lambs and kids and three thousand calves to the people who were present. These were given from the king's possessions to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites, as he promised.

8Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the overseers of the temple, gave the priests two thousand six hundred sheep and three hundred calves for Passover.

9Jeconiah, Shemaiah, and Nathanael his brother, and Hashabiah, Ochiel, and Joram, high-ranking officers, gave the Levites five thousand sheep and seven hundred calves for Passover.

10This is what happened. The priests and Levites stood in their proper order before the people,

11holding the unleavened bread according to the tribes

12and the governors of their paternal families, to present the offering to the Lord, as was written in the Book of Moses. This was done in the morning.

13They roasted the paschal lamb with fire, as was fitting, and the sacrifices were boiled in copper pots and pans, providing a fragrant aroma. They were then carried out to all the people.

14After this was done, they prepared the paschal lamb for themselves and for the priests their brothers, the sons of Aaron. For the priests offered the fat until late and the Levites prepared it for themselves and for the priests, their brothers, the sons of Aaron.

15The temple singers, the sons of Asaph, were also in their proper place according to their appointed order made by David, along with Asaph, Zechariah, and Eddinus, who belonged to the king's entourage. Moreover the gatekeepers from each gate were not to leave their posts, for their brothers, the Levites, prepared the paschal lamb for them.

16So the things concerning the sacrifices were completed on that day. They kept the Passover and offered sacrifices on the altar of the Lord according to the command of King Josiah.

17Thus the children of Israel who were present at that time kept Passover, as well as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for seven days.

18From the times of Samuel the prophet, there was no Passover kept in Israel such as this.

19No king in Israel ever kept such a Passover as Josiah did, along with the Levites, the Jews and all Israel who were present and living in Jerusalem.

20This Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign.

21These works of Josiah were upright before the Lord, for his heart was full of godliness.

22The events that took place in the days of Josiah were recorded long ago. They concerned those who sinned and acted impiously against the Lord, even more so than any nation and kingdom. For they grieved Him extremely, so the words of the Lord came against Israel.

23Then after these acts of Josiah took place, Pharaoh the king of Egypt went to make war at Carchemish on the River Euphrates. So Josiah went out to encounter him.

24Then the king of Egypt sent word to him, saying, 'What do we have to do with each other, O king of Judea?

25I was not sent against you by the Lord God, for my war is at the Euphrates. The Lord is now with me, and the Lord is hastening me onward! Therefore withdraw from me, and do not be in opposition to the Lord.'

26Josiah, however, did not turn back his chariot, but tried to fight against him. Thus he did not heed the words of Jeremiah the prophet from the mouth of the Lord.

27Rather, he engaged Pharaoh in battle on the plain of Megiddo, and his commanders came down against King Josiah.

28Then the king told his servants, 'Remove me from the fight, for I am badly wounded.' Thus his servants immediately withdrew him from the line of battle.

29They mounted him on his second chariot and brought him back to Jerusalem, where he died. So they buried him in the tomb of his forefathers.

30They mourned over Josiah throughout all Judea. Jeremiah the prophet also sang a lamentation on Josiah's behalf. Even to this day, the chief men and the women make lamentations for him, for it came to pass that this was to be done perpetually throughout the entire nation of Israel.

31These things are recorded in the book of the histories of the Judean kings. Now everything Josiah did—his glory, his understanding in the law of the Lord, both his prior accomplishments and things now related—are recorded in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

32The men of the nation took Jeconiah the son of Josiah to succeed Josiah as king. He was twenty-three years old.

33He reigned for three months in both Judah and Jerusalem. Then the king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem

34and made the people pay a fine of one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.

35The king of Egypt then appointed Jehoiakim his brother as king of Judah and Jerusalem.

36Jehoiakim put the people of high status in prison, then arrested his brother Zarius and brought him up from Egypt.

37Now Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judea and Jerusalem, but he did evil before the Lord.

38So Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came up against him, bound him with a copper chain, and led him away by force to Babylon.

39Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the Lord's holy vessels and carried them away and placed them in his temple in Babylon.

40Now the things written about Jehoiakim, his uncleanness and ungodliness, are described in the chronicles of the kings.

41Then his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place, for he was appointed king when he was eighteen years old.

42He reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem and did evil before the Lord.

43After a year, Nebuchadnezzar sent and deported him to Babylon, together with the holy vessels of the Lord.

44Then he appointed Zedekiah king of Judea and Jerusalem. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old and he reigned for eleven years.

45He also did evil before the Lord and did not respect the words from the mouth of the Lord spoken to him by Jeremiah the prophet.

46Although King Nebuchadnezzar made him swear in the Lord's name, he swore falsely and revolted. He became stiff-necked, hardened his heart, and transgressed the laws of the Lord God of Israel.

47Even the chief leaders of the people and the priests acted in many ungodly and lawless ways, surpassing all the uncleanness of all the nations. They even defiled the Lord's temple which He had sanctified in Jerusalem.

48Now the God of their fathers sent to call them back through His angel so as to spare them and His dwelling place.

49But they ridiculed His messengers, and whenever the Lord spoke, they mocked His prophets until He became furious with His people because of their impious acts. So He gave the command to bring the kings of the Chaldeans against them.

50They killed their young men by the sword round about their holy temple. They spared neither young man nor virgin, neither old man nor child, for He handed over all into their hands.

51They took all the large and small holy vessels of the Lord, the ark of the Lord, and the king's possessions, and carried them off to Babylon.

52They burned the Lord's house, broke down the walls of Jerusalem, and set the towers on fire.

53They made all its glorious things to be worthless and led away the survivors to Babylon with the sword.

54They became servants of the king and his heirs until the Persians began to reign, in fulfillment of the Lord's word by the mouth of Jeremiah,

55which said, 'Until the land has enjoyed its Sabbaths, it shall keep its Sabbath the entire time of its desolation until the fulfillment of seventy years.'