Josiah Restores the Passover

2 Kings 23

21 Then the king commanded all the people, saying, h "Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, i as it is written in this Book of the Covenant." 22 j Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the LORD in Jerusalem.

24 Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of k the law which were written in the book l that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. 25 m Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.

26 Nevertheless the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, n because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. 27 And the LORD said, "I will also remove Judah from My sight, as o I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, p 'My name shall be there.' " 1

  1. Cross References
    Numbers 9:5
    And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did.
    Joshua 5:10
    Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho.
    2 Chronicles 35:1
    Now Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month.
  2. Cross References
    Exodus 12:3
    Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.
    Leviticus 23:5
    On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD's Passover.
    Numbers 9:2
    Let the children of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time.
    Deuteronomy 16:2 - 8
    Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God, from the flock and the herd, in the place where the LORD chooses to put His name.
  3. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 35:18
    There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet; and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
    2 Chronicles 35:19
    In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.
  4. Cross References
    Leviticus 19:31
    Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
    Leviticus 20:27
    'A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.'"
    Deuteronomy 18:11
    Or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.
  5. Cross References
    2 Kings 22:8
    Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
  6. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:5
    He trusted in the LORD God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.
  7. Cross References
    2 Kings 21:11
    Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations ( he has acted more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols).
    2 Kings 21:12
    Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.
    2 Kings 24:3
    Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done.
    2 Kings 24:4
    And also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon.
    Jeremiah 15:4
    I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
  8. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:18
    Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone.
    2 Kings 17:20
    And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight.
    2 Kings 18:11
    Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
    2 Kings 21:13
    And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
  9. Cross References
    1 Kings 8:29
    That Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, 'My name shall be there,' that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place.
    1 Kings 9:3
    And the LORD said to him: "I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.
    2 Kings 21:4
    He also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem I will put My name.
    2 Kings 21:7
    He even set a carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which the LORD had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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