Book of Common Prayer

A Davidic Song of Ascents

Hope in the Lord

A Song of Ascents

The Lord Lives in Zion

A Davidic Song of Ascents

The Significance of Unity

A Song of Ascents

Praise to the Creator

Praising God for His Graciousness

Josiah Abolishes Idolatry

⁴ The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the secondary order, and the doorkeepers to take out of the Lord’s Temple all of the implements that had been crafted for Baal, for Asherah, and for every star in the heavens. Then he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried the ashes to Bethel. ⁵ The king unseated the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places throughout the cities of Judah and in the environs surrounding Jerusalem, including those who had been burning incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to every star in the heavens. ⁶ He brought the Asherah from the Lord’s Temple to the Kidron Brook outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Kidron brook, pulverized the ashes^[a] to dust, and scattered it^[b] over the graves of the common people.

⁷ He also demolished the temples of the cultic male prostitutes that had been operating^[c] in the Lord’s Temple, where the women had been doing weaving for the Asherah. ⁸ Then he gathered together all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He also demolished the high places of the gates that had been erected to the left as one enters the city gate—that is, near the entrance operated by Joshua, the governor of the city. ⁹ Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not approach the Lord’s altar in Jerusalem, but instead they ate unleavened bread given to them by their^[d] relatives.

¹⁰ He also defiled Topheth, which is located in the Ben-hinnom Valley,^[e] so that no one would force his son or daughter to pass through the fire in dedication to Molech. ¹¹ He abolished the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the Lord’s Temple, near the offices of Nathan-melech, the official, that were in the precincts. He also set fire to the chariots of the sun.

¹² The king demolished the rooftop altars on top of Ahaz’s upper chamber that the kings of Judah had erected, as well as the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the Lord’s Temple. He pulverized them where they stood and cast their dust into the Kidron Brook. ¹³ The king defiled the high places which faced^[f] Jerusalem on the south^[g] side of Corruption Mountain, which King Solomon of Israel had constructed for Ashtoreth, the Sidonian abomination, for Chemosh, the Moabite abomination, and for Milcom, the Ammonite abomination. ¹⁴ He broke the pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherim, and filled their locations with human bones.

¹⁵ Furthermore, he even broke down the altar that had been at Bethel as well as the high place constructed by Nebat’s son Jeroboam, who had caused Israel to sin. He demolished its stones, pulverized them to dust, and burned the Asherah. ¹⁶ As Josiah turned around, he observed the graves located there on the mountain, so he sent for and recovered the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar to defile it, in keeping with the message from the Lord that the godly man had proclaimed when he was declaring these things. ¹⁷ He asked, “What is this monument that I’m looking at?”

The men who lived in that city answered him, “It’s the grave of that godly man who came from Judah and predicted these things that you’ve done against the altar at Bethel!”

¹⁸ Josiah^[h] replied, “Leave him alone. No one is to disturb his bones.” So they preserved his bones undisturbed, along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria. ¹⁹ Josiah also removed all of the temples on the high places that had been in the cities of Samaria and that the kings of Israel had erected, thereby provoking the Lord.^[i] He treated Samaria^[j] just as he had Bethel. ²⁰ After he had slaughtered all the priests who served at the high places and burned their bones on those high places, he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Reinstates the Passover

²¹ After this, the king commanded all of the people, “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, just as it’s prescribed in this Book of the Covenant.” ²² From the days of the judges who ruled in Israel, no Passover had been celebrated like this, not even in all the reigns of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. ²³ In the eighteenth year of the reign of^[k] King Josiah, this Passover was observed in Jerusalem to honor the Lord. ²⁴ Furthermore, Josiah removed the mediums, the necromancers, the household gods,^[l] the idols, and every despicable thing that could be seen in the territory of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he might confirm the words of the Law that had been written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s Temple. ²⁵ There had been no king like him before him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength, in obeying everything in the Law of Moses. No king arose like Josiah after him.

Concerning Spiritual Gifts

12 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant. ² You know that when you were unbelievers,^[a] you were enticed and led astray to worship^[b] idols that couldn’t even speak. ³ For this reason I want you to be aware that no one who is speaking by God’s Spirit can say, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, ⁵ and there are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are varieties of results, but it is the same God who produces all the results in everyone.

⁷ To each person has been given the ability to manifest the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ To one has been given a message of wisdom by the Spirit; to another the ability to speak with knowledge according to the same Spirit; ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit; ¹⁰ to another miraculous results; to another prophecy; to another the ability to distinguish between spirits; to another various kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages. ¹¹ But one and the same Spirit produces all these results and gives what he wants to each person.

Jesus Heals a Woman and Resurrects a Girl^(A)

¹⁸ While Jesus^[a] was telling them these things, an official came up and fell down before him. “My daughter has just died,” he said. “But come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ So Jesus got up and followed him, along with his disciples.

²⁰ Just then a woman who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel of his garment, ²¹ because she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch his robe, I will get well.”

²² When Jesus turned and saw her, he said, “Be courageous, daughter! Your faith has made you well.” And from that very hour the woman was well.

²³ When Jesus came to the official’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴ he said, “Go away! The young lady hasn’t died, but is sleeping.” But they ridiculed him with laughter. ²⁵ When the crowd had been driven outside, he went in, took her by the hand, and the young lady got up. ²⁶ The news of this spread throughout that land.