Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the Director: On the Gittith.

A Psalm by the descendants of Korah.

Longing for God

Hezekiah Succeeds Ahaz^(A)

29 Hezekiah began his reign at the age of 25. He reigned for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, Zechariah’s daughter. ² He practiced what the Lord considered to be right, following all of the examples set by his ancestor David.

Hezekiah’s Temple Restoration Project^(B)

³ In the first month of the first year of his reign he repaired and reopened the doors of the Lord’s Temple. ⁴ Then he brought in the priests and descendants of Levi, gathered them into the square in the eastern part of the Temple,^{[a] 5} and told them,

¹⁶ The priests entered the inner courts of the Lord’s Temple to cleanse it, and they brought out everything unclean that they found there to the outer court of the Lord’s Temple. Then the descendants of Levi carried everything from there out to the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷ They began their consecration duties on the first day of the first month and finished at the Lord’s outer vestibule^[a] on the eighth day of the month. Another eight days was used to consecrate the Lord’s Temple, so they completed the work on the sixteenth day of the first month.

¹⁸ After this, they went to King Hezekiah and told him, “We have cleansed all of the Lord’s Temple, including the altar for burnt offerings, all of its utensils, the table of showbread, and all of its utensils. ¹⁹ In addition, we have prepared and rededicated all of the utensils that King Ahaz threw away during his unfaithful reign, and now they’re back in service at the Lord’s altar.”

The Messiah’s Perfect Sacrifice

²³ Thus it was necessary for these earthly^[a] copies of the things in heaven to be cleansed by these sacrifices,^[b] but the heavenly things themselves are made clean^[c] with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For the Messiah^[d] did not go into a sanctuary made by human^[e] hands that is merely a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, to appear now in God’s presence on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor did he go into heaven^[f] to sacrifice himself again and again, the way the high priest goes into the Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ Then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the creation of the world. But now, at the end of the ages, he has appeared once for all to remove sin by his sacrifice. ²⁷ Indeed, just as people are destined to die once and after that to be judged,^{[g] 28} so the Messiah^[h] was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people. And he will appear a second time, not to deal with sin,^[i] but to bring salvation to those who eagerly wait for him.