He gave him the second royal chariot to ride in, and his guard of honor went ahead of him and cried out, "Make way! Make way!" And so Joseph was appointed governor over all Egypt.

His officials placed his body in a chariot and took it back to Jerusalem, where he was buried in the royal tombs. The people of Judah chose Josiah's son Joahaz and anointed him king.

Your righteousness is towering like the mountains; your justice is like the depths of the sea. People and animals are in your care.

But this is nonsense. Look at what happens in the world: sometimes the righteous get the punishment of the wicked, and the wicked get the reward of the righteous. I say it is useless.

I thought long and hard about all this and saw that God controls the actions of wise and righteous people, even their love and their hate. No one knows anything about what lies ahead.

It makes no difference. The same fate comes to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the bad, to those who are religious and those who are not, to those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. A good person is no better off than a sinner; one who takes an oath is no better off than one who does not.

and the punishment which I am going to bring on Jerusalem will not come until after your death. I will let you die in peace." The men returned to King Josiah with this message.

At that time the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.