Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

23 And they brought the king word again what she had said. And he sent: and all the ancients of Juda and Jerusalem were assembled to him.

² And the king went up to the temple of the Lord, and all the men of Juda, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, the priests and the prophets, and all the people both little and great: and in the hearing of them all he read all the words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the house of the Lord.

³ And the king stood upon the step: and made a covenant with the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies and his ceremonies, with all their heart, and with all their soul, and to perform the words of this covenant, which were written in that book: and the people agreed to the covenant.

⁴ And the king commanded Helcias the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to cast out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that had been made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burnt them without Jerusalem in the valley of Cedron, and he carried the ashes of them to Bethel.

⁵ And he destroyed the soothsayers, whom the kings of Juda had appointed to sacrifice in the high places in the cities of Juda, and round about Jerusalem: them also that burnt incense to Baal, and to the sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve signs, and to all the host of heaven.

⁶ And he caused the grove to be carried out from the house of the Lord without Jerusalem to the valley of Cedron, and he burnt it there, and reduced it to dust, and cast the dust upon the graves of the common people.

⁷ He destroyed also the pavilions of the effeminate, which were in the house of the Lord, for which the women wove as it were little dwellings for the grove.

⁸ And he gathered together all the priests out of the cities of Juda: and he defiled the high places, where the priests offered sacrifice, from Gabaa to Bersabee: and he broke down the altars of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Josue governor of tile city, which was on the left hand of the gate of the city.

²¹ And he commanded all the people, saying: Keep the phase to the Lord your God, according as it is written in the book of this covenant.

²² Now there was no such a phase kept from the days of the judges, who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, and of the kings of Juda,

²³ As was this phase that was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem, in the eighteenth year of king Josias.

²⁴ Moreover the diviners by spirits, and soothsayers, and the figures of idols, and the uncleannesses, and the abominations, that had been in the land of Juda, and Jerusalem, Josias took away: that he might perform the words of the law, that were written in the book which Helcias the priest had found in the temple of the Lord.

²⁵ There was no king before him like unto him, that returned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with ail his strength, according to all the law of Moses: neither after him did there arise any like him.

4 Therefore, seeing we have this ministration, according as we have obtained mercy, we faint not;

² But we renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience, in the sight of God.

³ And if our gospel be also hid, it is hid to them that are lost,

⁴ In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them.

⁵ For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ our Lord; and ourselves your servants through Jesus.

⁶ For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus.

⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of the power of God, and not of us.

⁸ In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but are not destitute;

⁹ We suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we perish not:

¹⁰ Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.

¹¹ For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake; that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

¹² So then death worketh in us, but life in you.