Rescinding the Rewritten: Receiving the Death of Josiah in Paraleipomena

ABSTRACT The reception history of Josiah’s encounter with Pharaoh Necho is a complicated issue that has yet to be fully explored. Many scholars stop with the transmission from the Masoretic text (MT) of Kings to the MT of Chronicles; however, the Greek translator(s) of 2 Chronicles 35, also known as 2 Paraleipomena 35, inserted specific textual variants that deviate from the MT. There has been little done on Paraleipomena, and even fewer works that factor in the complex theological history surrounding the death of Josiah. This paper hopes to follow the reception of the final events of Josiah by combining both literary and text critical methodologies.