Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
¶ A Song of degrees.
1 LORD, remember David and all his afflictions:
2 How he swore unto the LORD and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob;
3 surely I will not come into the habitation of my house nor go up into my bed,
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find out a place for the LORD, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.
6 Behold, we heard of her in Ephratah; we found her in the fields of the wood.
7 We will go into his tents; we will worship at his footstool.
8 Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.
9 Thy priests are clothed with righteousness, and thy merciful ones shout for joy.
10 For the love of thy slave David, do not turn away thy face from thine anointed.
11 ¶ The LORD has sworn truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body I will set upon thy throne.
12 If thy sons will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their sons shall also sit upon thy throne for ever.
13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired her for his habitation.
14 This shall be my rest for ever; here I will dwell; for I have desired her.
15 I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16 I will also clothe her priests with saving health, and her merciful ones shall shout aloud for joy.
17 There will I make the horn of David to bud; I have ordained a lamp for my anointed.
18 His enemies I will clothe with shame, but upon himself shall his crown blossom.
23 ¶ And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.
2 And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, from the smallest to the greatest; 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 all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in that book. And all the people confirmed the covenant.
4 ¶ And the king commanded Hilkiah, the high priest, and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door, to bring forth 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 burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and caused their dust to be carried unto Bethel.
5 And he put down the religious persons whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places round about Jerusalem; likewise, those that burned incense unto 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 graven image of the grove from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and stamped it small to powder and cast the powder of it upon the graves of the sons of the people.
7 He likewise broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were by the house of the LORD where the women wove hangings for the grove.
8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua, the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at 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, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.
10 And he defiled Tophet, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
11 And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech, the chamberlain who was in charge of the Parbar, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
12 And the king cast down the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD and made haste and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron.
13 Likewise, the king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon, the king of Israel, had built unto Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Zidonians, and unto Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and unto Milcom, the abomination of the sons 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 He that comes from above is above all; he that is of the earth is earthly and speaks earthly things: he that comes from heaven is above all.
32 And what he has seen and heard, that he testifies; and no one receives his testimony.
33 He that has received his testimony has set to his seal 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 unto him.
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
36 He that believes in the Son has eternal life, and he that does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
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