Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

29 Hizkiyahu was twenty-five years old when he began his reign, and he ruled for twenty-nine years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Aviyah the daughter of Z’kharyah. ² He did what was right from Adonai’s perspective, following the example of everything David his ancestor had done.

³ In the first month of the first year of his reign, he reopened the doors of the house of Adonai and repaired them. ⁴ Then he brought in the cohanim and L’vi’im, assembled them in the open space to the east, ⁵ and said to them, “Listen to me, L’vi’im: consecrate yourselves now, consecrate the house of Adonai the God of your ancestors, and remove the filth from the Holy Place. ⁶ For our ancestors acted treacherously, they did what is evil from the perspective of Adonai our God, they abandoned him, they turned their faces away from where Adonai lives and turned their backs on him. ⁷ They sealed the doors of the vestibule, put out the lamps and stopped burning incense and offering burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Isra’el.

⁸ “Because of this, Adonai’s anger has settled on Y’hudah and Yerushalayim; and he has made them an object of horror, astonishment and mocking — as you can see with your own eyes. ⁹ Here, our ancestors have fallen by the sword; and on this account our sons, daughters and wives have gone into captivity.

¹⁰ “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Adonai the God of Isra’el, so that his furious anger will turn away from us. ¹¹ My sons, now is not a time for being negligent; for you are the ones Adonai chose to stand before him and serve him as his ministers, offering him incense.”

¹² Then the L’vi’im set about the task — Machat the son of ‘Amasai and Yo’el the son of ‘Azaryahu from the descendants of the K’hati; of the sons of M’rari, Kish the son of ‘Avdi and ‘Azaryahu the son of Yehallel’el; of the Gershuni, Yo’ach the son of Zimah and ‘Eden the son of Yo’ach; ¹³ of the descendants of Elitzafan, Shimri and Ye‘i’el; of the descendants of Asaf, Z’kharyahu and Matanyahu; ¹⁴ of the descendants of Heman, Yechi’el and Shim‘i; and of the descendants of Y’dutun, Sh’ma‘yah and ‘Uzi’el.

¹⁵ They gathered their kinsmen, consecrated themselves and, in keeping with the king’s order and Adonai’s words, went in to cleanse the house of Adonai. ¹⁶ The cohanim went in to cleanse the inner part of the house of Adonai; all the unclean things they found in the sanctuary of Adonai they brought out into the courtyard of the house of Adonai, where the L’vi’im took and carried them out to Vadi Kidron. ¹⁷ They began consecrating on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they reached the vestibule of Adonai. Then they consecrated the house of Adonai in eight more days; so that on the sixteenth day of the first month, they had finished. ¹⁸ Then they went to Hizkiyahu the king in [the palace] and said, “We have cleansed all the house of Adonai, including the altar for burnt offerings, with all its equipment, and the table for the showbread, with all its equipment. ¹⁹ Moreover, we have reconditioned and consecrated all the articles that King Achaz threw out during his reign, when he was sinning; and they are there, in front of the altar of Adonai.”

3 You stupid Galatians! Who has put you under a spell? Before your very eyes Yeshua the Messiah was clearly portrayed as having been put to death as a criminal! ² I want to know from you just this one thing: did you receive the Spirit by legalistic observance of Torah commands or by trusting in what you heard and being faithful to it? ³ Are you that stupid? Having begun with the Spirit’s power, do you think you can reach the goal under your own power? ⁴ Have you suffered so much for nothing? If that’s the way you think, your suffering certainly will have been for nothing! ⁵ What about God, who supplies you with the Spirit and works miracles among you — does he do it because of your legalistic observance of Torah commands or because you trust in what you heard and are faithful to it?

⁶ It was the same with Avraham: “He trusted in God and was faithful to him, and that was credited to his account as righteousness.”^{[a] 7} Be assured, then, that it is those who live by trusting and being faithful who are really children of Avraham. ⁸ Also the Tanakh, foreseeing that God would consider the Gentiles righteous when they live by trusting and being faithful, told the Good News to Avraham in advance by saying, “In connection with you, all the Goyim will be blessed.”^{[b] 9} So then, those who rely on trusting and being faithful are blessed along with Avraham, who trusted and was faithful.