1 Esdras 1

1And Josiah kept the Passover in Jerusalem to the Lord his God, and they slaughtered the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month,

2having stationed the priests in their divisions, arrayed in the temple of the Lord.

3And he said to the Levites, the holy servants of Israel, “Sanctify yourselves to the Lord in the place of the holy ark of the Lord, in the house that Solomon son of David the king built.”

4You will not need to carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God, and minister to his people Israel, and prepare yourselves by your fathers' houses and your divisions,

5according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the greatness of Solomon his son; and standing in the sanctuary according to your ancestral division, O Levites, before your brothers, the sons of Israel,

6In order, sacrifice the Passover, and prepare the sacrifices for your brothers, and keep the Passover according to the command of the Lord that was given to Moses.

7And Josiah gave to the people who were present thirty thousand lambs and young goats, and three thousand calves.

8These things were given from the royal possessions, according to the promise, to the people and to the priests and Levites. And Helkias, Zechariah, and Esyelos, the overseers of the sanctuary, gave to the priests for the Passover two thousand six hundred sheep, and three hundred calves.

9And Iechonias and Samaias and Nathanael his brother, and Sabias and Ochielos and Joram, commanders of thousands, gave to the Levites for the Passover one thousand sheep and seven hundred calves.

10And when these things had taken place, the priests and the Levites stood in proper order, holding the unleavened bread, according to the tribes and according to the family divisions of the fathers, before the people, to offer to the Lord according to what is written in the book of Moses; and so they did in the morning.

11And they roasted the Passover with fire, as was proper, and they boiled the sacrifices in the bronze pots and kettles with a pleasing aroma, and brought them to all the people.

12After this they prepared for themselves and for the priests, their brothers, the sons of Aaron.

13For the priests were offering up the fat until evening, and the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, their brothers, the sons of Aaron.

14And the temple singers, the sons of Asaph, were at their stations according to what had been appointed by David, and Asaph and Zechariah and Eddinous, who were from the king.

15And the gatekeepers were at each gate; no one could leave his own appointed duty, for their brothers the Levites had prepared for them.

16And the matters of the Lord’s sacrifice were completed on that day: the Passover was offered, and the sacrifices were brought up onto the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josias.

17And the sons of Israel who were found at that time kept the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread for seven days.

18And no Passover like this had been held in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet.

19And all the kings of Israel had not kept such a Passover as Josias kept, and the priests and the Levites and the Judeans and all Israel who were found dwelling in Jerusalem.

20In the eighteenth year of Iosias's reign, this Passover was held.

21And the deeds of Josiah were upright before his Lord, with a heart full of godliness.

22And the things concerning him also have been recorded in former times, concerning those who sinned and acted wickedly against the Lord beyond every nation and kingdom, and grieved him greatly; and the words of the Lord rose up against Israel.

23And after all this activity of Josias, it happened that Pharaoh king of Egypt came to stir up war at Carchemish on the Euphrates; and Josias went out against him.

24Josiah met him. And the king of Egypt sent word to him, saying, “What is there between me and you, O king of Judea?”

25Was I not sent against you by the Lord God? For my war is on the Euphrates, and now the Lord is with me, and the Lord is with me, urging me on. Stand aside, and do not oppose the Lord.

26And Josiah did not turn back to his chariot, but attempted to fight him, not paying attention to the words of Jeremiah the prophet from the mouth of the Lord.

27But he arrayed himself for war against him in the plain of Megiddo, and the commanders came down against King Josiah.

28And the king said to his servants, “Take me away from the battle, for I am very weak.” And immediately his servants took him away from the battle line,

29And he got onto his second chariot; and after being brought back to Jerusalem, he ended his life and was buried in his ancestral tomb.

30And throughout all Judea they mourned for Josiah; and Jeremiah the prophet lamented over Josiah, and the leaders together with the women kept lamenting him to this day; and this was ordained to be done forever.

31for all the family of Israel. Now these things have been recorded in the book of the histories concerning the kings of Judah, and each deed of Josiah, and his glory, and his understanding in the law of the Lord, and the things done by him, both the former things and those now recounted, are recorded in the book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

32And those from the nation took Jechoniah son of Josiah and made him king in place of Josiah his father, when he was twenty-three years old.

33And he reigned over Israel and Jerusalem for three months; and the king of Egypt deposed him from reigning in Jerusalem,

34And he fined the nation one hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold.

35And the king of Egypt made Joakim his brother king over Judea and Jerusalem.

36And he bound Jehoiakim’s nobles, and after seizing Zarius his brother, he brought him up from Egypt.

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

38After him Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and he bound him with bronze chains and carried him away to Babylon.

39And Nebuchadnezzar took some of the sacred vessels of the Lord and carried them away and deposited them in his temple in Babylon.

40The recorded accounts concerning him, and his uncleanness and impiety, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings.

41And Jehoiakim his son reigned in his place; for when he was appointed, he was eight years old.

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

43And after a year, Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him away to Babylon, together with the holy vessels of the Lord,

44And he appointed Zedekiah king of Judea and Jerusalem; Zedekiah was twenty-one years old, and he reigned eleven years.

45And he did what was evil before the Lord, and he was not ashamed at the words spoken by Jeremiah the prophet from the mouth of the Lord.

46And though he had sworn by the name of the Lord to King Nebuchadnezzar, he broke his oath and rebelled; and, stiffening his neck and his heart, he transgressed the laws of the Lord God of Israel.

47And the leaders of the people and of the priests also committed much impiety and lawlessness, beyond all the uncleannesses of all the nations, and they defiled the sanctuary of the Lord, which had been sanctified in Jerusalem.

48And the God of their fathers sent by his angel to visit their people and to call them back, because he had compassion on them and on his dwelling place.

49But they mocked his messengers, and whenever the Lord spoke, they were making sport of his prophets, until, in his anger against his nation because of their ungodly deeds, he commanded the kings of the Chaldeans to come up against them.

50These men killed their young men with the sword around the holy temple, and they showed no mercy to young man or virgin, old man or youth,

51But he handed everything over into their hands. And after taking all the holy vessels of the Lord, the great and the small, and the chests of the Lord and the royal storehouses, they carried them away to Babylon.

52And they burned the house of the Lord, and tore down the walls of Jerusalem, and burned its towers with fire,

53And they brought all her splendor to ruin, and he carried the survivors away with the sword to Babylon.

54And they were servants to him and to his sons until the Persians came to reign, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.

55until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths; all the time of its desolation it kept Sabbath, to complete seventy years.