Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for Deliverance

Josiah Succeeds Amon^(A)

34 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem. ² He practiced what the Lord considered to be right, following the example^[a] of his ancestor David, turning neither to the right nor to the left. ³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David. In the twelfth year of his reign,^[b] he began to remove the high places, Asherim, carved images, and cast images from Judah and Jerusalem.

⁴ They tore down the altars of Baals in his presence. He chopped down the incense altars that stood high above them. He broke into pieces the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast images, ground them to dust, and scattered the residue on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, thus purging Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali and their surrounding ruins, ⁷ he also tore down altars, destroyed the Asherim and the carved images, grinding them^[c] into dust, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

Gentiles Receive the Holy Spirit

⁴⁴ While Peter was still making this statement, the Holy Spirit fell on all the people who were listening to his message. ⁴⁵ Then the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the gentiles, too, ⁴⁶ because they heard them speaking in foreign languages^[a] and praising God. Then Peter said, ⁴⁷ “No one can stop us from using water to baptize these people who have received the Holy Spirit in the same way that we did, can they?”^{[b] 48} So Peter^[c] ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah.^[d] Then they asked him to stay there for several days.