Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

132 LORD, remember David with all his affliction.

² Who swore to the LORD, vowed to the Mighty of Jacob,

³ “I will not enter into the tabernacle of my house, nor come upon my pallet (my bed),

⁴ “nor allow my eyes to sleep, nor my eyelids to slumber,

⁵ “until I find a place for the LORD, a habitation for the Mighty of Jacob.”

⁶ Lo, we heard of it in Ephrathah and found it in the fields of the forest.

⁷ We will enter into His Tabernacles and worship before His footstool.

⁸ Arise, O LORD, into Your rest, You and the Ark of Your strength.

⁹ Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness; and let Your saints rejoice.

¹⁰ For Your servant David’s sake, do not refuse the face of Your Anointed.

¹¹ The LORD has sworn to David in truth; and He will not shrink from it, saying, “From the fruit of your body will I set upon your throne.

¹² “If your sons keep My Covenant, and My testimonies, so that I shall teach them, their sons also shall sit upon your throne forever.”

¹³ For the LORD has chosen Zion and loved to dwell in it, saying,

¹⁴ “This is My rest, forever. Here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

¹⁵ “I will surely bless her provisions and will satisfy her poor with bread

¹⁶ “and will clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall shout for joy.

¹⁷ “There I will make the horn of David bud. I have ordained a Light for My Anointed.

¹⁸ “I will clothe His enemies with shame; but on Him His crown shall flourish.” A song of degrees, or Psalm, of Solomon

23 Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem to him.

² And the king went up into the House of the LORD, with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and Prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their ears all the Words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the House of the LORD.

³ And the king stood by the pillar and made a Covenant before the LORD, that they would walk after the LORD, and keep His Commandments, and His Testimonies, and His Statutes, with all their heart and with all their soul, so that they might carry out the Words of this Covenant written in this Book. And all the people established the Covenant.

⁴ Then the king commanded Hilkiah the High Priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the Door, to bring all the vessels that were made for Baal (and for the grove and for all the host of heaven) out of the Temple of the LORD. And he burnt them outside Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes into Bethel.

⁵ And he took down the Chemarim, whom the kings of Judah had made to burn incense in the high places, in the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, and also those that burnt incense to Baal (to the Sun and to the Moon and to the planets and to all the host of heaven).

⁶ And he brought out the grove from the Temple of the LORD, outside Jerusalem, to the valley of Kidron, and burnt it in the valley Kidron and stamped it to powder and cast its dust upon the graves of the children of the people.

⁷ And he broke down the houses of the Sodomites who were in the House of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.

⁸ Also, he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burnt incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and destroyed the high places of the gates that were in the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which was on the left side of the gate of the city.

⁹ Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not come up to the Altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, except only when they ate of the unleavened bread among their brethren.

¹⁰ He also defiled Topheth, which was in the valley of the children of Hinnom, so that no man would make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech.

¹¹ He also took down the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the Sun at the entrance of the House of the LORD, by the chamber of Nethan-Melech the eunuch (who was ruler of the suburbs) and burnt the chariots of the Sun with fire,

¹² and the altars that were on the top of the chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made. And the king broke down the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the House of the LORD and quickly went from there and cast the dust of them in the brook Kidron.

¹³ Moreover, the king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, and on the right hand of the Mount of Corruption (which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth, the idol of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh, the idol of the Moabites, and for Milcom, the abomination of the children of Ammon).

¹⁴ And he broke the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.

³¹ “The One who has come from on high is above all. The one who is from the Earth, is from the Earth, and speaks from the Earth. The One who has come from Heaven is above all.

³² “And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies. But no one receives His testimony.

³³ “The one who has received His testimony, has sealed that God is true.

³⁴ “For He Whom God has sent speaks the words of God. For God does not give the Spirit by measure.

³⁵ “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

³⁶ “The one who believes in the Son has everlasting life. And the one who disbelieves the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”