希西家生玛拿西；玛拿西生亚们；亚们生约西亚；

希西家生玛拿西，玛拿西生亚们，亚们生约西亚，

希西家生玛拿西，玛拿西生亚们，亚们生约西亚，

希西迦生玛拿西，玛拿西生亚们，亚们生约西亚，

希西家生玛拿西，玛拿西生亚们，亚们生约西亚，

希西家生玛拿西，玛拿西生阿蒙，阿蒙生约西亚，

希西家生瑪拿西；瑪拿西生亞們；亞們生約西亞；

希西家生瑪拿西，瑪拿西生亞們，亞們生約西亞，

希西家生瑪拿西，瑪拿西生亞們，亞們生約西亞，

希西迦生瑪拿西，瑪拿西生亞們，亞們生約西亞，

希西家生瑪拿西，瑪拿西生亞們，亞們生約西亞，

希西家生瑪拿西；瑪拿西生亞們；亞們生約西亞；

希西家生瑪拿西，瑪拿西生阿蒙，阿蒙生約西亞，

希西家生瑪拿西、瑪拿西生亞們、亞們生約西亞、

希西家生馬拿西、馬拿西生亞門、亞門生約西亞、

希西家生瑪拿西、瑪拿西生亞們、亞們生約西亞、

厄瑟基亞生瑪納瑟、瑪納瑟生亞蒙、亞蒙生若西亞、

Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,

Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amon. Amon was the father of Josiah.

and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah,

Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amon. Amon was the father of Josiah.

Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, Amon fathered Josiah,

Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, and Amon fathered Josiah.

Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.

and Hezekiah begat Manasseh; and Manasseh begat Amon; and Amon begat Josiah;

Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, Amon fathered Josiah,

And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;

Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah,

Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah.

By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar:“ Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says:‘ A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’” (niv)

Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done,including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive. (niv)

The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile. (niv)

Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son,Amon his son, Josiah his son.The sons of Josiah: Johanan the firstborn, Jehoiakim the second son, Zedekiah the third, Shallum the fourth. (niv)

Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty- five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them.He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said,“ In Jerusalem I will put my Name.”In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts.He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.He took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple, of which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon,“ In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.I will not again make the feet of the Israelites wander from the land I gave their ancestors, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them and will keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them.”But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.The Lord said through his servants the prophets:“ Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols.Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hands of enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their enemies;they have done evil in my eyes and have aroused my anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this day.”Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end— besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord.As for the other events of Manasseh’s reign, and all he did, including the sin he committed, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.Amon was twenty- two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah.He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done.He followed completely the ways of his father, worshiping the idols his father had worshiped, and bowing down to them.He forsook the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in obedience to him.Amon’s officials conspired against him and assassinated the king in his palace.Then the people of the land killed all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in his place.As for the other events of Amon’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah his son succeeded him as king.Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty- one years. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath.He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the Lord. He said:“ Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people.Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the Lord—the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple.But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are honest in their dealings.”Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary,“ I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it.Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him:“ Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.”Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king,“ Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant:“ Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Akbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophet Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter.She said to them,“ This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me,‘ This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read.Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all the idols their hands have made, my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.’Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord,‘ This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard:Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people— that they would become a curse and be laid waste— and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I also have heard you, declares the Lord.Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.’” So they took her answer back to the king.Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets— all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord.The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord— to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel.He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem— those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts.He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people.He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate.Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek.He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley.The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption— the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon.Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin— even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also.Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.The king asked,“ What is that tombstone I see?” The people of the city said,“ It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”“ Leave it alone,” he said.“ Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord’s anger.Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.The king gave this order to all the people:“ Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed.But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord.Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did— with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger.So the Lord said,“ I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said,‘ My Name shall be there.’”As for the other events of Josiah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo.Josiah’s servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father. (niv)

Hezekiah rested with his ancestors and was buried on the hill where the tombs of David’s descendants are. All Judah and the people of Jerusalem honored him when he died. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty- five years.He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them.He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said,“ My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”In both courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts.He sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.He took the image he had made and put it in God’s temple, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon,“ In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.I will not again make the feet of the Israelites leave the land I assigned to your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them concerning all the laws, decrees and regulations given through Moses.”But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors.And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.Afterward he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, west of the Gihon spring in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate and encircling the hill of Ophel; he also made it much higher. He stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah.He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the Lord, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city.Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.The other events of Manasseh’s reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are written in the annals of the kings of Israel.His prayer and how God was moved by his entreaty, as well as all his sins and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself— all these are written in the records of the seers.Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in his palace. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.Amon was twenty- two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years.He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon worshiped and offered sacrifices to all the idols Manasseh had made.But unlike his father Manasseh, he did not humble himself before the Lord; Amon increased his guilt.Amon’s officials conspired against him and assassinated him in his palace.Then the people of the land killed all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in his place.Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty- one years.He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols.Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them, and smashed the Asherah poles and the idols. These he broke to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and Jerusalem.In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them,he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles and crushed the idols to powder and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, to purify the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the ruler of the city, with Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the temple of the Lord his God.They went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the temple of God, which the Levites who were the gatekeepers had collected from the people of Manasseh, Ephraim and the entire remnant of Israel and from all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.Then they entrusted it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the Lord’s temple. These men paid the workers who repaired and restored the temple.They also gave money to the carpenters and builders to purchase dressed stone, and timber for joists and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into ruin.The workers labored faithfully. Over them to direct them were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, descended from Kohath. The Levites— all who were skilled in playing musical instruments—had charge of the laborers and supervised all the workers from job to job. Some of the Levites were secretaries, scribes and gatekeepers.While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the temple of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord that had been given through Moses.Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary,“ I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan.Then Shaphan took the book to the king and reported to him:“ Your officials are doing everything that has been committed to them.They have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the supervisors and workers.”Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king,“ Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes.He gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant:“ Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.”Hilkiah and those the king had sent with him went to speak to the prophet Huldah, who was the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the New Quarter.She said to them,“ This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me,‘ This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people— all the curses written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah.Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all that their hands have made, my anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord,‘ This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard:Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord.Now I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here.’” So they took her answer back to the king.Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites— all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord.The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord— to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.Josiah removed all the detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and he had all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their ancestors.Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the Lord’s temple.He said to the Levites, who instructed all Israel and who had been consecrated to the Lord:“ Put the sacred ark in the temple that Solomon son of David king of Israel built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel.Prepare yourselves by families in your divisions, according to the instructions written by David king of Israel and by his son Solomon.“ Stand in the holy place with a group of Levites for each subdivision of the families of your fellow Israelites, the lay people.Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves and prepare the lambs for your fellow Israelites, doing what the Lord commanded through Moses.”Josiah provided for all the lay people who were there a total of thirty thousand lambs and goats for the Passover offerings, and also three thousand cattle— all from the king’s own possessions.His officials also contributed voluntarily to the people and the priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah and Jehiel, the officials in charge of God’s temple, gave the priests twenty- six hundred Passover offerings and three hundred cattle.Also Konaniah along with Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, the leaders of the Levites, provided five thousand Passover offerings and five hundred head of cattle for the Levites.The service was arranged and the priests stood in their places with the Levites in their divisions as the king had ordered.The Passover lambs were slaughtered, and the priests splashed against the altar the blood handed to them, while the Levites skinned the animals.They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the subdivisions of the families of the people to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle.They roasted the Passover animals over the fire as prescribed, and boiled the holy offerings in pots, caldrons and pans and served them quickly to all the people.After this, they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fat portions until nightfall. So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the Aaronic priests.The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, were in the places prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun the king’s seer. The gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their posts, because their fellow Levites made the preparations for them.So at that time the entire service of the Lord was carried out for the celebration of the Passover and the offering of burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, as King Josiah had ordered.The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time and observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem.This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle.But Necho sent messengers to him, saying,“ What quarrel is there, king of Judah, between you and me? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Necho had said at God’s command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo.Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers,“ Take me away; I am badly wounded.”So they took him out of his chariot, put him in his other chariot and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his ancestors, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers commemorate Josiah in the laments. These became a tradition in Israel and are written in the Laments.The other events of Josiah’s reign and his acts of devotion in accordance with what is written in the Law of the Lord—all the events, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. (niv)