Book of Common Prayer

A Prayer of Humble Trust^[a]

In Praise of the Temple

In Praise of Living in Peace^[b]

A Call to Praise God

A Hymn of Praise

^4 (A)Then Josiah ordered the High Priest Hilkiah, his assistant priests, and the guards on duty at the entrance to the Temple to bring out of the Temple all the objects used in the worship of Baal, of the goddess Asherah, and of the stars. The king burned all these objects outside the city near Kidron Valley and then had the ashes taken to Bethel. ⁵ He removed from office the priests that the kings of Judah had ordained to offer sacrifices^[a] on the pagan altars in the cities of Judah and in places near Jerusalem—all the priests who offered sacrifices to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars. ⁶ He removed from the Temple the symbol of the goddess Asherah, took it out of the city to Kidron Valley, burned it, pounded its ashes to dust, and scattered it over the public burying ground. ⁷ He destroyed the living quarters in the Temple occupied by the temple prostitutes.^[b] (It was there that women wove robes used in the worship of Asherah.) ⁸ He brought to Jerusalem the priests who were in the cities of Judah, and throughout the whole country he desecrated the altars where they had offered sacrifices. He also tore down the altars dedicated to the goat demons near the gate built by Joshua, the city governor, which was to the left of the main gate as one enters the city. ⁹ Those priests were not allowed to serve in the Temple, but they could eat the unleavened bread provided for their fellow priests.

^10 (B)King Josiah also desecrated Topheth, the pagan place of worship in Hinnom Valley, so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter as a burnt offering to the god Molech. ¹¹ He also removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the worship of the sun, and he burned the chariots used in this worship. (These were kept in the temple courtyard, near the gate and not far from the living quarters of Nathan Melech, a high official.) ^12 (C)The altars which the kings of Judah had built on the palace roof above King Ahaz' quarters, King Josiah tore down, along with the altars put up by King Manasseh in the two courtyards of the Temple; he smashed the altars to bits^[c] and threw them into Kidron Valley. ^13 (D)Josiah desecrated the altars that King Solomon had built east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Olives,^[d] for the worship of disgusting idols—Astarte the goddess of Sidon, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Molech the god of Ammon. ¹⁴ King Josiah broke the stone pillars to pieces, cut down the symbols of the goddess Asherah, and the ground where they had stood he covered with human bones.

^15 (E)Josiah also tore down the place of worship in Bethel, which had been built by King Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin. Josiah pulled down the altar, broke its stones into pieces,^[e] and pounded them to dust; he also burned the image of Asherah. ^16 (F)Then Josiah looked around and saw some tombs there on the hill; he had the bones taken out of them and burned on the altar. In this way he desecrated the altar, doing what the prophet had predicted long before during the festival as King Jeroboam was standing by the altar. King Josiah looked around and saw the tomb of the prophet^[f] who had made this prediction. ^17 (G)“Whose tomb is that?” he asked.

The people of Bethel answered, “It is the tomb of the prophet who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done to this altar.”

¹⁸ “Leave it as it is,” Josiah ordered. “His bones are not to be moved.”

So his bones were not moved, neither were those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

¹⁹ In every city of Israel King Josiah tore down all the pagan places of worship which had been built by the kings of Israel, who thereby aroused the Lord's anger. He did to all those altars what he had done in Bethel. ²⁰ He killed all the pagan priests on the altars where they served, and he burned human bones on every altar. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Celebrates the Passover^(H)

²¹ King Josiah ordered the people to celebrate the Passover in honor of the Lord their God, as written in the book of the covenant. ²² No Passover like this one had ever been celebrated by any of the kings of Israel or of Judah, since the time when judges ruled the nation. ²³ Now at last, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah, the Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem.

Other Changes Made by Josiah

²⁴ In order to enforce the laws written in the book that the High Priest Hilkiah had found in the Temple, King Josiah removed from Jerusalem and the rest of Judah all the mediums and fortunetellers, and all the household gods, idols, and all other pagan objects of worship. ²⁵ There had never been a king like him before, who served the Lord with all his heart, mind, and strength, obeying all the Law of Moses; nor has there been a king like him since.

Gifts from the Holy Spirit

12 Now, concerning what you wrote about the gifts from the Holy Spirit.

I want you to know the truth about them, my friends. ² You know that while you were still heathen, you were led astray in many ways to the worship of lifeless idols. ³ I want you to know that no one who is led by God's Spirit can say “A curse on Jesus!” and no one can confess “Jesus is Lord,” without being guided by the Holy Spirit.

^4 (A)There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. ⁵ There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. ⁶ There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service. ⁷ The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all. ⁸ The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge. ⁹ One and the same Spirit gives faith to one person, while to another person he gives the power to heal. ¹⁰ The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God's message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person he gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another he gives the ability to explain what is said. ¹¹ But it is one and the same Spirit who does all this; as he wishes, he gives a different gift to each person.

The Official's Daughter and the Woman Who Touched Jesus' Cloak^(A)

¹⁸ While Jesus was saying this, a Jewish official came to him, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and place your hands on her, and she will live.”

¹⁹ So Jesus got up and followed him, and his disciples went along with him.

²⁰ A woman who had suffered from severe bleeding for twelve years came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his cloak. ²¹ She said to herself, “If only I touch his cloak, I will get well.”

²² Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, “Courage, my daughter! Your faith has made you well.” At that very moment the woman became well.

²³ Then Jesus went into the official's house. When he saw the musicians for the funeral and the people all stirred up, ²⁴ he said, “Get out, everybody! The little girl is not dead—she is only sleeping!” Then they all started making fun of him. ²⁵ But as soon as the people had been put out, Jesus went into the girl's room and took hold of her hand, and she got up. ²⁶ The news about this spread all over that part of the country.