2 Chronicles 35:25
in 2 Chronicles 35Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the choirs of men and women sing laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
KJV
And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
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This verse in 2 Chronicles 35
Commentary
4 notes on this verseon 2 Chronicles 35:22-25
It is true that in the holy Scriptures many are called righteous, as Zachariah and Elizabeth, Job, Jehosaphat, Josiah, and many others who are mentioned in the sacred writings. Of this fact I shall, if God gives me grace, give a full explanation in the work that I have promised; in this letter it must suffice to say that they are called righteous, not because they are faultless but because their faults are eclipsed by their virtues.
This site's exposition
Jeremiah lamented for Josiah
Jeremiah enters Chronicles by name here, one chapter before the book ends, and his lament for Josiah becomes a fixed ordinance, sung by the singing men and women to this day at the time of writing. The elegy itself is not the text now called Lamentations; Barnes and others conclude the actual composition is lost and that a separate collection of funeral dirges lies behind the note. Josiah is the only king of Judah for whom Scripture records a mourning ordinance kept to this day.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Some find Jeremiah’s lament in the entire Book of Lamentations; others in a part of it Lam. 4. But most critics are of opinion that the lament is lost. Days of calamity were commemorated by lamentations on their anniversaries, and this among the number. The “Book of Dirges” was a collection of such poems which once existed but is now lost. And made them an ordinance - Rather, “and they made them an ordinance,” they i. e. who had authority to do so, not the minstrels.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, &c.--The elegy of the prophet has not reached us; but it seems to have been long preserved among his countrymen and chanted on certain public occasions by the professional singers, who probably got the dirges they sang from a collection of funeral odes composed on the death of good and great men of the nation.
The words behind it
21 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְקוֹנֵ֣ן | vaykonen | and he made a lament | H6969 → | |
| יִרְמְיָהוּ֮ | yirmeyahu | Jeremiah | H3414 → | 147 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ֒ | yoshiyahu | Josiah | H2977 → | 53 times |
| וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ | vaiyomeru | and they have said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| כָֽל־ | khol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַשָּׁרִ֣ים׀ | hasharim | the male singers | H7891 → | 86 times |
| וְ֠הַשָּׁרוֹת | vehasharot | and the female singers | H7891 → | 86 times |
| בְּקִינ֨וֹתֵיהֶ֤ם | bekinoteihem | in lamentations their | H7015 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יֹאשִׁיָּ֙הוּ֙ | yoshiyahu | Josiah | H2977 → | 53 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| הַיּ֔וֹם | haiyom | this day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| וַיִּתְּנ֥וּם | vaiyitenum | and they made them | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לְחֹ֖ק | lechok | into a decree | H2706 → | 127 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| וְהִנָּ֥ם | vehinam | and there they | H2005 → | 316 times |
| כְּתוּבִ֖ים | ketuvim | [are] written | H3789 → | 224 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַקִּינֽוֹת׃ | hakinot | the lamentations | H7015 → |
וַיְקוֹנֵ֣ןand he made a lament
vaykonenH6969 →
יִרְמְיָהוּ֮Jeremiah
yirmeyahuH3414 →147 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ֒Josiah
yoshiyahuH2977 →53 times
וַיֹּאמְר֣וּand they have said
vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times
כָֽל־all
khol-H3605 →5413 times
הַשָּׁרִ֣ים׀the male singers
hasharimH7891 →86 times
וְ֠הַשָּׁרוֹתand the female singers
vehasharotH7891 →86 times
בְּקִינ֨וֹתֵיהֶ֤םin lamentations their
bekinoteihemH7015 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יֹאשִׁיָּ֙הוּ֙Josiah
yoshiyahuH2977 →53 times
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
הַיּ֔וֹםthis day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
וַיִּתְּנ֥וּםand they made them
vaiyitenumH5414 →2011 times
לְחֹ֖קinto a decree
lechokH2706 →127 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
וְהִנָּ֥םand there they
vehinamH2005 →316 times
כְּתוּבִ֖ים[are] written
ketuvimH3789 →224 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַקִּינֽוֹת׃the lamentations
hakinotH7015 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 22:10Do not weep for the dead king; do not mourn his loss. Weep bitterly for the one who is exiled, for he will never return to see his native land.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 22:11
For this is what the LORD says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who succeeded his father Josiah but has gone forth from this place: “He will never return,
- Ecclesiastes 4:2
So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive.
- Isaiah 57:1
The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.
- Lamentations 4:9
Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
- 2 Kings 22:20
‘Therefore I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place.’”…
- Jeremiah 22:11
Through
Job 3:8May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.
it leads to
- Job 41:1
“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
- Job 41:1
Through
Matthew 9:23When Jesus entered the house of the synagogue leader, He saw the flute players and the noisy crowd.
it leads to
- Matthew 11:17
‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Mark 5:35–40
While He was still speaking, messengers from the house of Jairus arrived and said, “Your daughter is dead; why bother the Teacher anymore?”
- Matthew 11:17
About 2 Chronicles

Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PersonLate monarchy / ExileJeremiahPriest of Anathoth called before birth to uproot and to plant; the weeping prophet of Jerusalem's fall who bought a field in the s…
- PersonLate monarchyJosiahThe boy-king who found the book of the law in the temple, tore his clothes, and led Judah's last great reformation and Passover be…
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Jerome, LETTER 133.13.
