had given to the sun, and burned the chariots
of the sun. Josiah broke down and crushed in pieces the altars that were
on the roof, which the rulers of Judah had made.

Josiah also tore down the altar and the old temple at Bethel, broke its
stones in pieces, and beat it to dust.

Then he gave this command to all the people: "Keep the passover to
Jehovah your God, as is commanded in this book of the covenant." Such a
passover as this had not been kept from the days of the judges who ruled
Israel and during the period of the rulers of Israel and of Judah; but
this passover was kept in Jehovah's honor in Jerusalem for the first
time in the eighteenth year of Josiah's rule.

Josiah put away all the mediums, the wizards, the idols and all the evil
things that were discovered in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that
he might carry out the words of the law which were written in the book
that Hilkiah, the priest, found in the temple of Jehovah. Josiah was the
first ruler who turned to Jehovah with all his heart, with all his soul,
and with all his strength in exact accord with the law of Moses, nor
were any of the rulers that followed like him.

THE WRITING OF AN ANCIENT BOOK

When Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, had been ruler for four years, this
message came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, "Take a parchment roll and write
on it all the words that I have spoken to you about Jerusalem and Judah
and all the nations from the time of Josiah to the present. Perhaps the
people of Judah will pay attention to all the evil which I intend to
bring upon them, so that they will turn each from his evil way, that I
may forgive their guilt and sin."

Then Jeremiah called Baruch, the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a
parchment roll as Jeremiah told him all the words which Jehovah had
spoken to him. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, "I am not
permitted to go to the temple of Jehovah. Therefore you go and read in
the temple on the fast day the words of Jehovah from the roll which you
have written at my command. You shall read them to all the people of
Judah who have come from their towns. Perhaps they will pray to Jehovah
and each turn from his evil way; for great is the anger and wrath of
Jehovah against this people." So Baruch did as Jeremiah, the prophet,
commanded him, reading in the temple from the writing the words of
Jehovah.

The next year, when all the people who had come to Jerusalem from the
cities of Judah were observi