Josias was eight years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted thirty-one years; his mother’s name was Idida, the daughter of Hadaia of Besecath.

He was obedient to the Lord’s will, and followed in all things the example of his ancestor, king David, never swerving to right or left.

In the eighteenth year of his reign, Josias had an errand for the controller of the temple, Saphan, son of Aslia, son of Messula.

He was to bid the high priest Helcias reckon up the sum collected by the temple door-keepers for the needs of the Lord’s house,

and pay it out to the workmen through the temple overseers. Pay must be given to these workmen, engaged on making good the temple fabric,

carpenters, masons, and builders alike; there was timber to be bought, too, and stone from the quarries, before the Lord’s temple could be repaired.

No account need be kept of these expenses; the overseers could be trusted with full disposal of the money.

It was then that the high priest Helcias told Saphan he had found, there in the temple, a copy of the law, which he gave him to read.

And Saphan, going back to the king with news of his errand, to report that the temple offerings had been reckoned up and paid over to the temple overseers, for distribution to the workmen,

added that he had a book which the high priest Helcias had given him.

This book, then, Saphan read out in the royal presence;

and the king, upon hearing the terms of the Lord’s law, rent his garments about him.

Then he gave his orders to Helcias, and Ahicam son of Saphan, and Achobor son of Micha, and Saphan the controller of the temple, and Asaia, one of his courtiers;

Go and consult the Lord, he told them, in my name, and in the name of this whole people of Juda, about this new-found copy of the law. Fiercely the Lord’s anger burns against us, that the words of this book should have fallen on deaf ears, and our race should have disobeyed the commands enjoined upon us.

So Helcias, Ahicam, Achobor, Saphan and Asaia betook themselves to the prophetess Holda. She was wife to Sellum, son of Thecua, son of Araas, that once kept the royal wardrobe; her dwelling was at Jerusalem, in the new part of the city. So they told her their business,

and she, in return, gave them this message from the Lord God of Israel for the man that sent them:

Thus says the Lord, For this city and its citizens I have punishments in store, all the punishments threatened in yonder book the king of Juda has read.

The men of Juda have forsaken me, and offered sacrifice to alien gods; all they do is done in defiance of me; the fire of my vengeance must needs break out against this city, and there is no quenching it.

But to the king of Juda, who sent you here to consult the Lord, give this message from the Lord God of Israel: Well for thee thou didst listen to the warnings this book gave thee!

Well for thee that fear caught at thy heart, and thou didst humble thyself before the Lord, at hearing him threaten city and citizens with despair and doom; that thou didst rend thy garments, and hadst recourse to me in tears! And thou hast won my audience, the Lord says;

I will lay thee to rest with thy fathers, in quiet times thou shalt go to thy grave; not for thy eyes to witness the great calamities I mean to bring on this city of thine.