Page:Biblical Libraries (Richardson).djvu/148

 "Chronicles" and "Last words" of David (1 Ch. 23:27, 27:24); the "Book of the words (acts) of Solomon (1 Ki. 11:41), the Book of the words of days of the Kings of Judah and the Book of the words of days of the Kings of Israel — the kingdoms after division each having naturally its own records. That these books are official registers rather than histories appears most clearly in the case of the Persian archives (Est. 6, 1) when Ahasuerus has the "Book of the records of the words of days" ("Memorandum book of acts and proceedings") brought and read to him. The priestly and prophetic registers seem also to have continued, if perhaps with interruptions, to the time of Ezra, Nehemiah and the Maccabees.

The words of days are to be distinguished from the "words day by day" or the "words year by year" which appear to be the books of regulations or