Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A song for going up to worship.
130 O Lord, out of the depths I call to you.
2 O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be open to my pleas for mercy.
3 O Lord, who would be able to stand
if you kept a record of sins?
4 But with you there is forgiveness
so that you can be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and with hope I wait for his word.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
because with the Lord there is mercy
and with him there is unlimited forgiveness.
8 He will rescue Israel from all its sins.
King Hezekiah Rededicates the Temple(A)
29 Hezekiah began to rule as king when he was 25 years old. He ruled for 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done.
3 In the first month of his first year as king, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple and repaired them. 4 He brought the priests and Levites together in the square on the east side ⌞of the temple⌟.
5 He said to them, “Listen to me, Levites. Perform the ceremonies to make the temple of the Lord God of your ancestors holy. Remove anything that has been corrupted from the holy place. 6 Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what the Lord our God considered evil. They deserted him. They turned away from the Lord’s tent [a] and turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors of the ⌞temple’s⌟ entrance hall, extinguished the lamps, and didn’t burn incense or sacrifice burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. 8 So the Lord was angry with Judah and Jerusalem. He made them something that shocks and terrifies people and that people ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes. 9 Our fathers were killed in battle, and our sons, daughters, and wives are prisoners because of this. 10 Now I intend to make a pledge to the Lord God of Israel so that he may turn his burning anger away from us. 11 Don’t be negligent, my sons. The Lord has chosen you to stand in front of him, serve him, be his servants, and burn sacrifices.”
12 So the Levites started to work.
From Kohath’s descendants were Mahath, son of Amasai, and Joel, son of Azariah.
From Merari’s descendants were Kish, son of Abdi, and Azariah, son of Jehallelel.
From Gershon’s descendants were Joah, son of Zimmah, and Eden, son of Joah.
13 From Elizaphan’s descendants were Shimri and Jeiel.
From Asaph’s descendants were Zechariah and Mattaniah.
14 From Heman’s descendants were Jehiel and Shimei.
From Jeduthun’s descendants were Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15 These men gathered their relatives and performed the ceremonies to make themselves holy. Then they obeyed the king’s order from the Lord’s word and entered the temple to make it clean.[b] 16 The priests entered the Lord’s temple to make it clean. They carried into the courtyard every unclean thing that they found in the Lord’s temple. Then the Levites took the unclean items outside the city to the Kidron Brook. 17 They started on the first day of the first month. On the eighth day they went into the Lord’s entrance hall, and for eight days they performed the ceremonies to make the Lord’s temple holy. They finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.
18 Then they went to King Hezekiah. They said ⌞to him⌟, “We have made all of the Lord’s temple clean. This includes the altar for burnt offerings, all its utensils, the table for the rows of bread and all its utensils, 19 and all the utensils King Ahaz refused to use during his reign when he was unfaithful. We have restored them and made them holy. They are in front of the Lord’s altar.”
God Approves of Those Who Believe
3 You stupid people of Galatia! Who put you under an evil spell? Wasn’t Christ Jesus’ crucifixion clearly described to you? 2 I want to learn only one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by your own efforts to follow the laws in the Scriptures or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you that stupid? Did you begin in a spiritual way only to end up doing things in a human way? 4 Did you suffer so much for nothing? ⌞I doubt⌟ that it was for nothing! 5 Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you through your own efforts or through believing what you heard?
6 Abraham serves as an example. He believed God, and that faith was regarded as the basis of Abraham’s approval by God. 7 You must understand that people who have faith are Abraham’s descendants. 8 Scripture saw ahead of time that God would give his approval to non-Jewish people who have faith. So Scripture announced the Good News to Abraham ahead of time when it said, “Through you all the people of the world will be blessed.” 9 So people who believe are blessed together with Abraham, the man of faith.
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