Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

132 Lord, do you remember that time when my heart^[a] was so filled with turmoil? ^2-5 I couldn’t rest, I couldn’t sleep, thinking how I ought to build a permanent home for the Ark of the Lord,^[b] a Temple for the Mighty One of Israel. Then I vowed that I would do it; I made a solemn promise to the Lord.

⁶ First the Ark was in Ephrathah,^[c] then in the distant countryside of Jaar. ⁷ But now it will be settled in the Temple, in God’s permanent home here on earth. That is where we will go to worship him.^{[d] 8} Arise, O Lord, and enter your Temple with the Ark, the symbol of your power.

⁹ We will clothe the priests in white, the symbol of all purity. May our nation shout for joy.

¹⁰ Do not reject your servant David—the king you chose for your people. ¹¹ For you promised me that my son would sit on my throne and succeed me. And surely you will never go back on a promise! ¹² You also promised that if my descendants will obey the terms of your contract with me, then the dynasty of David shall never end.

¹³ O Lord, you have chosen Jerusalem^[a] as your home: ¹⁴ “This is my permanent home where I shall live,” you said, “for I have always wanted it this way. ¹⁵ I will make this city prosperous and satisfy her poor with food. ¹⁶ I will clothe her priests with salvation; her saints shall shout for joy. ¹⁷ David’s power shall grow, for I have decreed for him a mighty Son.^{[b] 18} I’ll clothe his enemies with shame, but he shall be a glorious King.”

23 ^1-2 Then the king sent for the elders and other leaders of Judah and Jerusalem to go to the Temple with him. So all the priests and prophets and the people, small and great, of Jerusalem and Judah gathered there at the Temple so that the king could read to them the entire book of God’s laws which had been discovered in the Temple. ³ He stood beside the pillar in front of the people, and he and they made a solemn promise to the Lord to obey him at all times and to do everything the book commanded.

⁴ Then the king instructed Hilkiah the High Priest and the rest of the priests and the guards of the Temple to destroy all the equipment used in the worship of Baal, Asherah, and the sun, moon, and stars. The king had it all burned in the fields of the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and he carried the ashes to Bethel. ⁵ He killed the heathen priests who had been appointed by the previous kings of Judah, for they had burned incense in the shrines on the hills throughout Judah and even in Jerusalem. They had also offered incense to Baal and to the sun, moon, stars, and planets. ⁶ He removed the shameful idol of Asherah from the Temple and took it outside Jerusalem to Kidron Brook; there he burned it and beat it to dust and threw the dust on the graves of the common people. ⁷ He also tore down the houses of male prostitution around the Temple, where the women wove robes for the Asherah idol.

⁸ He brought back to Jerusalem the priests of the Lord, who were living in other cities of Judah, and tore down all the shrines on the hills where they had burned incense, even those as far away as Geba and Beersheba. He also destroyed the shrines at the entrance of the palace of Joshua, the former mayor of Jerusalem, located on the left side as one enters the city gate. ⁹ However, these priests^[a] did not serve at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, even though they ate with the other priests.

¹⁰ Then the king destroyed the altar of Topheth in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, so that no one could ever again use it to burn his son or daughter to death as a sacrifice to Molech. ¹¹ He tore down the statues of horses and chariots located near the entrance of the Temple, next to the quarters of Nathan-melech the eunuch. These had been dedicated by former kings of Judah to the sun god. ¹² Then he tore down the altars that the kings of Judah had built on the palace roof above the Ahaz Room. He also destroyed the altars that Manasseh had built in the two courts of the Temple; he smashed them to bits and scattered the pieces in Kidron Valley.

¹³ Next he removed the shrines on the hills east of Jerusalem and south of Destruction Mountain. (Solomon had built these shrines for Ashtoreth, the evil goddess of the Sidonians; and for Chemosh, the evil god of Moab; and for Milcom, the evil god of the Ammonites.) ¹⁴ He smashed the obelisks and cut down the shameful idols of Asherah; then he defiled these places by scattering human bones over them.

³¹ “He has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. I am of the earth, and my understanding is limited to the things of earth. ³² He tells what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! ^33-34 Those who believe him discover that God is a fountain of truth. For this one—sent by God—speaks God’s words, for God’s Spirit is upon him without measure or limit. ³⁵ The Father loves this man because he is his Son, and God has given him everything there is. ³⁶ And all who trust him—God’s Son—to save them have eternal life; those who don’t believe and obey him shall never see heaven, but the wrath of God remains upon them.”