Josiah Keeps the Passover

1 ^gJosiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb ^hon the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their offices ⁱand encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. 3 And he said to the Levites ^jwho taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. You need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves ^kaccording to your fathers’ houses by your divisions, ^las prescribed in the writing of David king of Israel ^mand the document of Solomon his son. 5 And ⁿstand in the Holy Place ^oaccording to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of your brothers the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by fathers’ household. 6 And slaughter the Passover lamb, and ^pconsecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the Lord by¹ Moses.”

7 Then Josiah contributed to the lay people, as Passover offerings for all who were present, lambs and young goats from the flock to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 bulls; ^qthese were from the king’s possessions. 8 And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. ^rHilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 bulls. 9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 bulls.

10 When the service had been prepared for, the priests ^sstood in their place, ^tand the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command. 11 ^uAnd they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests ^vthrew the blood that they received from them ^wwhile the Levites flayed the sacrifices. 12 And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of the lay people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls. 13 ^xAnd they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the rule; and they ^yboiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the lay people. 14 And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place ^zaccording to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s ^aseer; ^band the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. 17 And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, ^cand the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days. 18 ^dNo Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.

Josiah Killed in Battle

20 ^eAfter all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at ^fCarchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him. 21 But he sent envoys to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you.” 22 Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but ^gdisguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight in the plain of ^hMegiddo. 23 And the archers shot King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, ⁱ“Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” 24 So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. ^jAll Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 ^kJeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all ^lthe singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds according to what is written in the Law of the Lord, 27 and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Judah’s Decline

1 ^mThe people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem. 2 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. 3 Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and ⁿlaid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent² of gold. 4 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.

5 ^oJehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. 6 ^pAgainst him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^qand bound him in chains ^rto take him to Babylon. 7 ^sNebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. 8 ^tNow the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

9 ^uJehoiachin was eighteen³ years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 10 In ^vthe spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, ^wwith the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made his brother ^xZedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

11 ^yZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before ^zJeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. 13 ^aHe also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. ^bHe stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.

15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, ^csent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 ^dBut they kept mocking the messengers of God, ^edespising his words and scoffing at his prophets, ^funtil the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Jerusalem Captured and Burned

17 ^gTherefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand. 18 ^hAnd all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. 19 ⁱAnd they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. 20 He ^jtook into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, ^kand they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had ^lenjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate ^mit kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

The Proclamation of Cyrus

22 ⁿNow in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, ^othat the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, ^pthe Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: 23 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’”

The Lord Is My Strength and My Shield

Of David.

Traditions and Commandments

1 ^pNow when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes ^qwho had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were ^rdefiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly,¹ holding to ^sthe tradition of ^tthe elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.² And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as ^uthe washing of ^vcups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.³) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to ^sthe tradition of ^tthe elders, ^wbut eat with ^rdefiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you ^xhypocrites, as it is written,

8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of ^arejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ^b‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ^c‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)⁴— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus ^dmaking void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

What Defiles a Person

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, ^e“Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 ^fThere is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”⁵ 17 And when he had entered ^gthe house and left the people, ^hhis disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then ⁱare you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart ^jbut his stomach, and is expelled?”⁶ (^kThus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, ^l“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, ^mmurder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, ⁿsensuality, ^oenvy, ^pslander, ^qpride, ^rfoolishness. 23 ^sAll these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith

24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.⁷ And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 ^tNow the woman was a ^uGentile, ^va Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be ^wfed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and ^xthrow it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s ^ycrumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may ^zgo your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Jesus Heals a Deaf Man

31 ^aThen he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to ^bthe Sea of Galilee, in the region of the ^cDecapolis. 32 And they brought to him ^da man who was deaf and ^dhad a speech impediment, and they begged him to ^elay his hand on him. 33 And ^ftaking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and ^fafter spitting touched his tongue. 34 And ^glooking up to heaven, ^hhe sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 ^dAnd his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And ⁱJesus⁸ charged them to tell no one. But ^jthe more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were ^kastonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”