2 Chronicles 34:1-35:27
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m Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.
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And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father; and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
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For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the n Asherim, and the carved and the metal images.
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And they chopped down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he cut down the o incense altars that stood above them. And he broke in pieces the n Asherim and the carved and the metal images, and he made dust of them and o scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
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p He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
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And in the q cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around,
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he broke down the altars and beat the n Asherim and the images r into powder and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
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s Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the t governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, u the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.
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They came to v Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from q Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
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And they gave it to the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord. And the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord gave it for repairing and restoring the house.
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They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone, and timber for binders and w beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin.
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And the men did the work faithfully. Over them were set Jahath and Obadiah the Levites, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to have oversight. x The Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music,
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were over y the burden-bearers and directed all who did work in every kind of service, and some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers.
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While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord, v Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord given through Moses.
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Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.
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Shaphan brought the book to the king, and further reported to the king, "All that was committed to your servants they are doing.
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They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have given it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen."
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Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it before the king.
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And when the king heard the words of the Law, z he tore his clothes.
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And the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying,
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"Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is a the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book."
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So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter) and spoke to her to that effect.
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And she said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 'Tell the man who sent you to me,
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Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah.
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Because they have forsaken me and b have made offerings to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore a my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.
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But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard,
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because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord.
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Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants.'" And they brought back word to the king.
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c Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
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And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.
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And the king d stood in his place e and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.
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Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
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And Josiah took away f all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.
2 Chronicles 35
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g Josiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb h on the fourteenth day of the first month.
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He appointed the priests to their offices i and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord.
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And he said to the Levites j who 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.
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Prepare yourselves k according to your fathers' houses by your divisions, l as prescribed in the writing of David king of Israel m and the document of Solomon his son.
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And n stand in the Holy Place o according to the groupings of the fathers' houses of your brothers the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by fathers' household.
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And slaughter the Passover lamb, and p consecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses."
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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; q these were from the king's possessions.
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And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. r Hilkiah, 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.
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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.
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When the service had been prepared for, the priests s stood in their place, t and the Levites in their divisions according to the king's command.
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u And they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests v threw the blood that they received from them w while the Levites flayed the sacrifices.
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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.
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x And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire according to the rule; and they y boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the lay people.
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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.
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The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place z according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's a seer; b and the gatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.
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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.
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And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, c and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days.
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d No 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.
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In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.
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e After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at f Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him.
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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."
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Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but g disguised 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 h Megiddo.
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And the archers shot King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, i "Take me away, for I am badly wounded."
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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. j All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
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k Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all l the 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.
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Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds according to what is written in the Law of the Lord,
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and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 34:1 - 2
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.
2 Kings 22:1 - 2
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 14:3
He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim
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Cross References
2 Kings 23:6
And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people.
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Cross References
2 Kings 23:6
And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 34:3
For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images.
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Cross References
2 Kings 23:20
And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
1 Kings 13:2
And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, "O altar, altar, thus says the Lord : 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'
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Cross References
2 Kings 23:15
Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah.
2 Kings 23:19
And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 34:3
For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 9:21
Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 34:8 - 28
Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.
2 Kings 22:3 - 20
In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 18:25
And the king of Israel said, "Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son.
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Cross References
2 Samuel 8:16
Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 35:8
And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, 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.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 34:6
And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around.
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Cross References
Nehemiah 2:8
And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy." And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.
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Cross References
1 Chronicles 23:5
4,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 shall offer praises to the Lord with the instruments that I have made for praise.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 2:2
And Solomon assigned 70,000 men to bear burdens and 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and 3,600 to oversee them.
2 Chronicles 2:18
Seventy thousand of them he assigned to bear burdens, 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and 3,600 as overseers to make the people work.
Nehemiah 4:10
In Judah it was said, "The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 34:9
They came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
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Cross References
Joshua 7:6
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 12:7
When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: "They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 28:3 - 4
And he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
2 Chronicles 28:25
In every city of Judah he made high places to make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 34:21
"Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book."
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 34:29 - 32
Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
2 Kings 23:1 - 3
Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 6:13
Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven.
2 Kings 11:14
And when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to the custom, and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets. And Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, "Treason! Treason!
2 Chronicles 30:16
They took their accustomed posts according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 15:12
And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 28:3
And he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
2 Chronicles 33:2
And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
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Cross References
2 Kings 23:21 - 23
And the king commanded all the people, "Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.
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Cross References
Exodus 12:6
And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
Ezra 6:19
On the fourteenth day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 29:11
My sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 17:9
And they taught in Judah, having the Book of th...
Nehemiah 8:7
Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Sha...
Nehemiah 8:9
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra th...
2 Chronicles 15:3
For a long time Israel was without the true God...
2 Chronicles 30:22
And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Lev...
Leviticus 10:11
And you are to teach the people of Israel all t...
Deuteronomy 33:10
They shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel yo...
Ezra 7:10
For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of ...
Malachi 2:7
For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge...
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Cross References
1 Chronicles 9:9
And their kinsmen according to their generations, 956. All these were heads of fathers' houses according to their fathers' houses.
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Cross References
1 Chronicles 23:1 - 26:1
When David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 8:14
According to the ruling of David his father, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their offices of praise and ministry before the priests as the duty of each day required, and the gatekeepers in their divisions at each gate, for so David the man of God had commanded.
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Cross References
Psalms 134:1
Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord!
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Cross References
Ezra 6:18
And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 29:5
And said to them, "Hear me, Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 31:3
The contribution of the king from his own possessions was for the burnt offerings: the burnt offerings of morning and evening, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed feasts, as it is written in the Law of the Lord.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 34:9
They came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 34:14
While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord given through Moses.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 30:16
They took their accustomed posts according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites.
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Cross References
Ezra 6:18
And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the Book of Moses.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 30:15
And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the Lord.
Ezra 6:20
For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 29:22
So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and threw it against the altar. And they slaughtered the rams, and their blood was thrown against the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 29:34
But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished - for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves.
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Cross References
Exodus 12:8 - 9
They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Deuteronomy 16:7
And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents.
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Cross References
1 Samuel 2:13 - 15
The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand.
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Cross References
1 Chronicles 25:1
David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals. The list of those who did the work and of their duties was:
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Cross References
1 Samuel 9:9
(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, "Come, let us go to the seer," for today's "prophet" was formerly called a seer.)
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Cross References
1 Chronicles 9:17 - 29
The gatekeepers were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their kinsmen (Shallum was the chief).
1 Chronicles 26:1 - 19
As for the divisions of the gatekeepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 30:21
And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with all their might to the Lord.
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Cross References
2 Kings 23:22 - 23
For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah.
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Cross References
2 Kings 23:29 - 30
In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo, as soon as he saw him.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 46:2
About Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
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Cross References
1 Kings 22:30
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes." And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
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Cross References
Judges 5:19
The kings came, they fought; then fought the kings of Canaan, at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; they got no spoils of silver.
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Cross References
1 Kings 22:34
But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, "Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.
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Cross References
Zechariah 12:11
On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
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Cross References
Lamentations 4:20
The breath of our nostrils, the Lord 's anointed, was captured in their pits, of whom we said, "Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.
2 Samuel 1:17
And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son.
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Cross References
2 Samuel 19:35
I am this day eighty years old. Can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?
Ezra 2:65
Besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337, and they had 200 male and female singers.
Nehemiah 7:67
Besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337. And they had 245 singers, male and female.
Matthew 9:23
And when Jesus came to the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.