Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

^(A)Longing for God^[a]

^15 (A)Josiah also tore down the place of worship in Bethel, which had been built by King Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin. Josiah pulled down the altar, broke its stones into pieces,^[a] and pounded them to dust; he also burned the image of Asherah. ^16 (B)Then Josiah looked around and saw some tombs there on the hill; he had the bones taken out of them and burned on the altar. In this way he desecrated the altar, doing what the prophet had predicted long before during the festival as King Jeroboam was standing by the altar. King Josiah looked around and saw the tomb of the prophet^[b] who had made this prediction. ^17 (C)“Whose tomb is that?” he asked.

The people of Bethel answered, “It is the tomb of the prophet who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done to this altar.”

¹⁸ “Leave it as it is,” Josiah ordered. “His bones are not to be moved.”

So his bones were not moved, neither were those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

¹⁹ In every city of Israel King Josiah tore down all the pagan places of worship which had been built by the kings of Israel, who thereby aroused the Lord's anger. He did to all those altars what he had done in Bethel. ²⁰ He killed all the pagan priests on the altars where they served, and he burned human bones on every altar. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Josiah Celebrates the Passover^(D)

²¹ King Josiah ordered the people to celebrate the Passover in honor of the Lord their God, as written in the book of the covenant. ²² No Passover like this one had ever been celebrated by any of the kings of Israel or of Judah, since the time when judges ruled the nation. ²³ Now at last, in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah, the Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem.

Other Changes Made by Josiah

²⁴ In order to enforce the laws written in the book that the High Priest Hilkiah had found in the Temple, King Josiah removed from Jerusalem and the rest of Judah all the mediums and fortunetellers, and all the household gods, idols, and all other pagan objects of worship. ²⁵ There had never been a king like him before, who served the Lord with all his heart, mind, and strength, obeying all the Law of Moses; nor has there been a king like him since.

The Two Witnesses

11 ^(A)I was then given a stick that looked like a measuring-rod, and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count those who are worshiping in the temple. ^2 (B)But do not measure the outer courts, because they have been given to the heathen, who will trample on the Holy City for forty-two months. ³ I will send my two witnesses dressed in sackcloth, and they will proclaim God's message during those 1, 260 days.”

^4 (C)The two witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lamps that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and destroys their enemies; and in this way whoever tries to harm them will be killed. ^6 (D)They have authority to shut up the sky so that there will be no rain during the time they proclaim God's message. They have authority also over the springs of water, to turn them into blood; they have authority also to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

^7 (E)When they finish proclaiming their message, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will fight against them. He will defeat them and kill them, ^8 (F)and their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, where their Lord was crucified. The symbolic name of that city is Sodom, or Egypt. ⁹ People from all nations, tribes, languages, and races will look at their bodies for three and a half days and will not allow them to be buried. ¹⁰ The people of the earth will be happy because of the death of these two. They will celebrate and send presents to each other, because those two prophets brought much suffering upon the whole human race. ^11 (G)After three and a half days a life-giving breath came from God and entered them, and they stood up; and all who saw them were terrified. ^12 (H)Then the two prophets heard a loud voice say to them from heaven, “Come up here!” As their enemies watched, they went up into heaven in a cloud. ^13 (I)At that very moment there was a violent earthquake; a tenth of the city was destroyed, and seven thousand people were killed. The rest of the people were terrified and praised the greatness of the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second horror is over, but the third horror will come soon!