APOCRYPHA

1 ESDRAS

1 loſias his charge to the Prieſts and Leuites. 7 A great Paſſeouer is kept. 32 His death is much lamented: 34 His Succeſſours. 53 The Temple, Citie, and people are deſtroyed. 56 The reſt are caried vnto Babylon.

1, ANd Ioſias helde the Feaſt of the Paſſeouer in Ieruſalem vnto his Lord, and offered the Paſſeouer the fourteenth day of the firſt moneth:    

2, Hauing ſet the Prieſts according to their daily courſes, being arayed in long garments, in the Temple of the Lord.

3, And hee ſpake vnto the Leuites the holy miniſters of Iſrael, that they ſhould hallow themſelues vnto the Lord, to ſet the holy Arke of the Lord, in the houſe that king Solomon the ſonne of Dauid had built:

4, And ſaid, Ye ſhall no more beare the Arke vpon your ſhoulders: now therefore ſerue the Lord your God, and miniſter vnto his people Iſrael, and prepare you after your families and kinreds.

5, According as Dauid the king of Iſrael preſcribed, & according to the magnificence of Solomon his ſonne: & ſtanding in the Temple according to the ſeuerall dignitie of the families of you the Leuites, who miniſter in the preſence of your brethren the children of Iſrael.

6, Offer the Paſſeouer in order, and make ready the ſacrifices for your brethren, and keepe the Paſſeouer according to the commaundement of the Lord, which was giuen vnto Moyſes.

7, And vnto the people that was found there, Ioſias gaue thirtie thouſand lambes, and kids, and three thouſand calues: theſe things were giuen of the kings allowance, according as hee promiſed to the people, to the Prieſtes, and to the Leuites.

8, And Helkias, Zacharias, and Sielus the gouernours of the Temple, gaue to the Prieſts for the Paſſeouer, two thouſand and ſixe hundred ſheepe, and three hundreth calues.

9, And Iechonias, and Samaias, and Nathanael his brother, and Aſſabias, and Ochiel, and Ioram captaines ouer thouſands, gaue to the Leuites for the Paſſeouer fiue thouſand ſheepe, and ſeuen hundreth calues.

10, And when theſe things were done, the Prieſts and Leuites hauing the vnleauened bread, ſtood in very comely order according to the kinreds,

11, And according to the ſeuerall dignities of the fathers, before the people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in, the booke of Moyſes: And thus did they in the morning.

12, And they roſted the Paſſeouer with fire, as appertaineth: as for the ſacrifices, they ſodde them in braſſe pots and pannes with a good ſauour.

13, And ſet them before all the people, and afterward they prepared for themſelues, and for the Prieſts their brethren the ſonnes of Aaron.

14, For the Prieſts offered the fat vntill night: and the Leuites prepared for themſelues, and the Prieſts their brethren the ſonnes of Aaron. 

15, The holy Singers alſo, the ſonnes of Aſaph, were in their order, according to the appointment of  Dauid, to wit, Aſaph, Zacharias, and Ieduthun, who was  of the kings retinue.

16, Moreouer the porters were at euery gate: it was not lawfull for any to goe from his ordinary ſeruice: for their brethren the Leuites prepared for them.

17, Thus were the things that belonged to the ſacrifices of the Lord accompliſhed in that day, that they might hold the Paſſeouer,

18, And offer ſacrifices vpon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandement of king Ioſias.

19, So the children of Iſrael which were preſent, held the Paſſeouer at that time, and the feaſt of ſweet bread ſeuen dayes.

20, And ſuch a Paſſeouer was not kept in Iſrael ſince the time of the Prophet Samuel.

21, Yea all the kings of Iſrael held not ſuch a Paſſeouer as Ioſias, and the Prieſts and the Leuites, & the Iewes held with all Iſrael that were found dwelling at Ieruſalem.

22, In the eighteenth yeere of the reigne of Ioſias was this Paſſeouer kept.

23, And the workes of Ioſias were vpright before his Lord with an heart full of godlineſſe.

24, As for the things that came to paſſe in his time, they were written in former times, concerning thoſe that ſinned, and did wickedly againſt the Lord aboue all people and kingdomes, and how they grieued him  exceedingly, ſo that the words of the Lord roſe vp againſt Iſrael.

25, Now after all theſe acts of Ioſias, it came to paſſe that Pharao the king of Egypt came to raiſe warre at Carchamis vpen Euphrates: and Ioſias went out againſt him.

26, But the king of Egypt ſent to him ſaying, What haue I to doe with thee, O king of Iudea?

27, I am not ſent out from the Lord God againſt thee: for my warre is vp on Euphrates, and now the Lord is with mee, yea the Lord is with mee haſting me forward: Depart from me and be not againſt the Lord.

28, Howbeit Ioſias did not turne backe his chariot from him, but vndertooke to fight with him, not regarding the words of the Prophet Ieremie,

29, But ioyned battell with him in the plaine of Magiddo, and the princes came againſt king Ioſias.

30, Then ſaid the king vnto his ſeruants, carry me away out of the battell for I am very weake: and immediately his ſeruants tooke him away out of the battell.

31, Then gate he vp vpon his ſecond chariot, and being brought backe to Ieruſalem, dyed, and was buried in his fathers ſepulchre.

32, And in all Iury they mourned for Ioſias, yea Ieremie the Prophet lamented for Ioſias, and the cheefe men with the women made lamentation for him vnto this day: and this was giuen out for an ordinance to be done continually in all the nation of Iſrael.

33, Theſe things are written in the booke of the ſtories of the kings of Iudah, and euery one of the acts that Ioſias did, and his glory, and his vnderſtanding in the law of the Lord, and the things that he had done before, and the things now recited, are reported in the bookes of the Kings of Iſrael and Iudea.

34, And the people tooke Ioachaz the ſonne of Ioſias, and made him king in ſtead of Ioſias his father, when hee was twentie and three yeeres old.

35, And he reigned in Iudea and in Ieruſalem three moneths: and then the King of Egypt depoſed him from reigning in Ieruſalem.

36, And he ſet a taxe vpon the land of an hundreth talents of ſiluer, and one talent of gold.

37, The king of Egypt alſo made king Ioacim his brother king of Iudea and Ieruſalem.

38, And hee bound Ioacim and the nobles: but Zaraces his brother he apprehended, and brought him out of Egypt.

39, Fiue and twentie yeere old was Ioacim when he was made king in the land of Iudea and Ieruſalem, and he did euill before the Lord.

40, Wherefore againſt him Nabuchodonoſor the King of Babylon came vp, and bound him with a chaine of braſſe, and carried him vnto Babylon

41, Nabuchodonoſor alſo tooke of the holy veſſels of the Lord, and carried them away, and ſet them in his owne temple at Babylon.

42, But thoſe things that are recorded of him, and of his vncleannes, and impietie, are written in the Chronicles of the kings.

43, And Ioacim his ſonne reigned in his ſtead: he was made king being eighteene yeeres old,

44, And reigned but three moneths and ten dayes in Ieruſalem, and did euill before the Lord.

45, So after a yere Nabuchodonoſor ſent, and cauſed him to be brought into Babylon with? holy veſſels of? Lord,

46, And made Zedechias king of Iudea and Ieruſalem, when he was one and twentie yeeres old, and he reigned eleuen yeeres:

47, And he did euill alſo in the ſight of the Lord, & cared not for the words that were ſpoken vnto him, by the Prophet Ieremie from the mouth of the Lord.

48, And after that king Nabuchodonoſor had made him to ſweare by the Name of the Lord, he forſwore himſelfe, and rebelled, and hardening his necke, and his heart, hee tranſgreſſed the lawes of the Lord God of Iſrael.

49, The gouernours alſo of the people and of the prieſts did many things againſt the lawes, and paſſed al the pollutions of all nations, and defiled the Temple of the Lord which was ſanctified in Ieruſalem.

50, Neuertheleſſe, the God of their fathers ſent by his meſſenger to call them backe, becauſe he ſpared them and his tabernacle alſo:

51, But they had his meſſengers in deriſion, and looke when the Lorde ſpake vnto them, they made a ſport of his prophets,

52, So farre foorth that he being wroth with his people for their great vngodlineſſe, commanded the kings of the Caldees to come vp againſt them.

53, Who ſlew their yong men with the ſword, yea euen within the compaſſe of their holy Temple, & ſpared neither yong man nor maid, old man nor child among them, for hee deliuered all into their hands.

54, And they tooke all the holy veſſels of the Lord, both great and ſmall, with the veſſels of the Ark of God, and the kings treaſures, and caried them away into Babylon.

55, As for the houſe of the Lord they burnt it, brake downe the walles of Ieruſalem, ſet fire vpon her towres.

56, And as for her glorious things, they neuer ceaſed til they had conſumed and brought them all to nought, and the people that were not ſlaine with the ſword, he caried vnto Babylon:

57, Who became ſeruants to him and his children, till the Perſians reigned, to fulfill the word of the Lord ſpoken by the mouth of Ieremie:

58, Vntill the land had enioyed her Sabbaths, the whole time of her deſolation ſhal ſhe reſt, vntill the full terme of ſeuentie yeeres.