Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 63

My Soul Thirsts for You

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A psalm by David. When he was in the wilderness of Judah.^[a]

Thirsting for God

Joy Even in Adversity

Destruction for the Defiant

¹⁵ Even the altar which was in Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam son of Nebat had made, which caused Israel to sin—he pulled down even that altar and its high place. Then he burned the high place. He ground the Asherah pole to powder and burned it.

¹⁶ Then Josiah turned and saw the graves that were there on the hill. He sent men and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar. So he defiled it in fulfillment of the word of the Lord, which the man of God ⎣proclaimed, when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the feast.

Then he turned and raised his eyes to the tomb of the man of God⎦ who proclaimed these things,^{[a] 17} and he asked, “What is that gravestone which I see over there?”

The men of the city told him, “It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you are doing against the altar of Bethel.”

¹⁸ Then he said, “Leave him alone. Let no one disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones along with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. ¹⁹ Josiah removed all the shrines of the high places which the kings of Israel had made in the cities of Samaria, which provoked the Lord^[b] to anger. He did to them just as he did in Bethel. ²⁰ On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places who were present there, and he burned human bones on the altars. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

Josiah Celebrates the Passover

²¹ Then the king commanded all the people, “Observe the Passover to the Lord your God just as it is written in the Book of the Covenant.” ²² For they had not observed a Passover like this during the days of the judges who led Israel or during the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. ²³ But in King Josiah’s eighteenth year, this Passover to the Lord was observed in Jerusalem. ²⁴ Josiah destroyed^[c] the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the filthy idols, and all the detestable idols which were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, in order to comply with the words of the law, which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the House of the Lord.

Summary

²⁵ Before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the Law of Moses, and after him no one like him arose.

The Two Witnesses

11 Then a measuring rod like a staff was given to me. He said,^[a] “Stand up and measure the incense altar and the temple of God and those who worship in it. ² Exclude the outer court of the temple and do not measure it, because it has been given to the heathen. They will trample the holy city for forty-two months. ³ I will commission my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that are standing before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone wants to harm them, fire is going to come out of their mouths and consume their enemies. If anyone should want to harm them, it is necessary that he be killed in this way.

⁶ These two have the authority to shut the sky so that no rain falls during the days when they are prophesying. They also have authority over the waters, to turn them into blood, and the authority to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

The Beast That Kills the Two Witnesses

⁷ When they finish their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will fight against them, conquer them, and kill them. ⁸ Their dead bodies will lie on the street of the great city, which spiritually^[b] is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

⁹ Some from the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days and will not permit them to be placed in a tomb. ¹⁰ Those who dwell on the earth will also rejoice over them and celebrate by sending gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.

¹¹ After three and a half days the breath of life from God came into them. They stood on their feet, and a great fear fell on those who saw them. ¹² And I^[c] heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” They went up into heaven in a cloud, as their enemies watched them. ¹³ At that moment there was also a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed by the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave praise to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second woe is past. See, the third woe is coming soon.