22. The Passover had never been celebrated like this during the time of the judges who governed Israel or during the entire time of the kings of Israel and Judah.
23. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, this Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem for the Lord.
24. Josiah also got rid of the mediums, psychics, family idols, other idols, and disgusting gods that could be seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to confirm the words of the Teachings written in the book that the priest Hilkiah found in the Lord’s temple.
25. No king before Josiah had turned to the Lord with all his heart, soul, and strength, as directed in Moses’ Teachings. No other ⌊king⌋ was like Josiah.
26. But the Lord still didn’t turn his hot, burning anger from Judah. After all, Manasseh had done all these things to make him furious.
27. The Lord had said, “I will put Judah out of my sight as I put Israel out of my sight. I will reject Jerusalem, the city that I chose, and I will reject the temple where I said my name would be.”
28. Isn’t everything else about Josiah—everything he did—written in the official records of the kings of Judah?
29. In Josiah’s days Pharaoh Necoh (the king of Egypt) came to help the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went to attack Necoh. When Pharaoh saw him at Megiddo, Pharaoh killed him.
30. His officers put his dead body in a chariot and brought it from Megiddo to Jerusalem. They buried Josiah in his tomb.Then the people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.
31. Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king, and he was king for 3 months in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.
32. He did what the Lord considered evil, as his ancestors had done.
33. Pharaoh Necoh made him a prisoner at Riblah in the territory of Hamath during his reign in Jerusalem and fined the country 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold.
34. Then Pharaoh Necoh made Josiah’s son Eliakim king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz away to Egypt, where he died.
35. Jehoiakim gave Pharaoh the silver and the gold. But he had to tax the country to pay the silver Pharaoh had demanded. He taxed each person according to his wealth so that he could get the silver and gold from the people of the land and give it to Pharaoh Necoh.
36. Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to rule, and he was king for 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Zebidah, daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah.
37. Jehoiakim did what the Lord considered evil, as his ancestors had done.