Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

63 A Psalm of David, in his being in the wilderness of Judah. O God, Thou [art] my God, earnestly do I seek Thee, Thirsted for Thee hath my soul, Longed for Thee hath my flesh, In a land dry and weary, without waters.

² So in the sanctuary I have seen Thee, To behold Thy strength and Thine honour.

³ Because better [is] Thy kindness than life, My lips do praise Thee.

⁴ So I bless Thee in my life, in Thy name I lift up my hands.

⁵ As [with] milk and fatness is my soul satisfied, And [with] singing lips doth my mouth praise.

⁶ If I have remembered Thee on my couch, In the watches -- I meditate on Thee.

⁷ For Thou hast been a help to me, And in the shadow of Thy wings I sing.

⁸ Cleaved hath my soul after Thee, On me hath Thy right hand taken hold.

⁹ And they who for desolation seek my soul, Go in to the lower parts of the earth.

¹⁰ They cause him to run on the edge of the sword, A portion for foxes they are.

¹¹ And the king doth rejoice in God, Boast himself doth every one swearing by Him, But stopped is the mouth of those speaking lies!

¹⁵ and also the altar that [is] in Beth-El, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat made, by which he made Israel sin, both that altar and the high place he hath broken down, and doth burn the high place -- he hath beat it small to dust, and hath burnt the shrine.

¹⁶ And Josiah turneth, and seeth the graves that [are] there in the mount, and sendeth and taketh the bones out of the graves, and burneth [them] on the altar, and defileth it, according to the word of Jehovah that the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things.

¹⁷ And he saith, `What [is] this sign that I see?' and the men of the city say unto him, `The grave of the man of God who hath come from Judah, and proclaimeth these things that thou hast done concerning the altar of Beth-El.'

¹⁸ And he saith, `Let him alone, let no man touch his bones;' and they let his bones escape, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.

¹⁹ And also all the houses of the high places that [are] in the cities of Samaria, that the kings of Israel made to provoke to anger, hath Josiah turned aside, and doth to them according to all the deeds that he did in Beth-El.

²⁰ And he slayeth all the priests of the high places who [are] there by the altars, and burneth the bones of man upon them, and turneth back to Jerusalem.

²¹ And the king commandeth the whole of the people, saying, `Make ye a passover to Jehovah your God, as it is written on this book of the covenant.'

²² Surely there hath not been made like this passover from the days of the judges who judged Israel, even all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Judah;

²³ but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, hath this passover been made to Jehovah in Jerusalem.

²⁴ And also, those having familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah, and in Jerusalem, hath Josiah put away, in order to establish the words of the law that are written on the book that Hilkiah the priest hath found in the house of Jehovah.

²⁵ And like him there hath not been before him a king who turned back unto Jehovah with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, and after him there hath none risen like him.

11 And there was given to me a reed like to a rod, and the messenger stood, saying, `Rise, and measure the sanctuary of God, and the altar, and those worshipping in it;

² and the court that is without the sanctuary leave out, and thou mayest not measure it, because it was given to the nations, and the holy city they shall tread down forty-two months;

³ and I will give to My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy days, a thousand, two hundred, sixty, arrayed with sackcloth;

⁴ these are the two olive [trees], and the two lamp-stands that before the God of the earth do stand;

⁵ and if any one may will to injure them, fire doth proceed out of their mouth, and doth devour their enemies, and if any one may will to injure them, thus it behoveth him to be killed.

⁶ These have authority to shut the heaven, that it may not rain rain in the days of their prophecy, and authority they have over the waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the land with every plague, as often as they may will.

⁷ `And when they may finish their testimony, the beast that is coming up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them,

⁸ and their dead bodies [are] upon the broad-place of the great city (that is called spiritually Sodom, and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified,)

⁹ and they shall behold -- they of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations -- their dead bodies three days and a half, and their dead bodies they shall not suffer to be put into tombs,

¹⁰ and those dwelling upon the land shall rejoice over them, and shall make merry, and gifts they shall send to one another, because these -- the two prophets -- did torment those dwelling upon the land.'

¹¹ And after the three days and a half, a spirit of life from God did enter into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon those beholding them,

¹² and they heard a great voice out of the heaven saying to them, `Come up hither;' and they went up to the heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them;

¹³ and in that hour came a great earthquake, and the tenth of the city did fall, and killed in the earthquake were names of men -- seven thousands, and the rest became affrighted, and they gave glory to the God of the heaven.

¹⁴ The second wo did go forth, lo, the third wo doth come quickly.