Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 132

David and Zion Chosen

A song of ascents.

Covenant Renewal

23 So the king sent messengers,^(A) and they gathered all the elders^(B) of Jerusalem and Judah to him. ² Then the king went to the Lord’s temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people from the youngest to the oldest. As they listened, he read all the words of the book of the covenant^(C) that had been found in the Lord’s temple.^{(D) 3} Next, the king stood by the pillar^[a](E) and made a covenant^(F) in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commands, His decrees, and His statutes with all his mind and with all his heart,^(G) and to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book; all the people agreed to^[b] the covenant.^(H)

Josiah’s Reforms

⁴ Then the king commanded Hilkiah^(I) the high priest and the priests of the second rank^(J) and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord’s temple all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and the whole heavenly host.^(K) He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.^{(L) 5} Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places^(M) in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and the whole heavenly host.^{(N) 6} He brought out the Asherah pole^(O) from the Lord’s temple to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem. He burned it at the Kidron Valley,^(P) beat it to dust,^(Q) and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.^{[c](R) 7} He also tore down the houses of the male cult prostitutes^(S) that were in the Lord’s temple, in which the women were weaving tapestries^[d] for Asherah.^(T)

⁸ Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places^(U) from Geba^(V) to Beer-sheba,^(W) where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate). ⁹ The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem; instead, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.^(X)

¹⁰ He defiled Topheth,^(Y) which is in the Valley of Hinnom,^(Z) so that no one could make his son or daughter pass through the fire^(AA) to Molech.^{(AB) 11} He did away with the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They had been at the entrance of the Lord’s temple in the precincts by the chamber of Nathan-melech the court official, and he burned up the chariots of the sun.^(AC)

¹² The king tore down the altars that were on the roof^(AD)—Ahaz’s upper chamber^(AE) that the kings of Judah had made—and the altars that Manasseh had made^(AF) in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. Then he smashed them^[e] there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley. ¹³ The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the detestable idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.^{(AG) 14} He broke the sacred pillars into pieces,^(AH) cut down the Asherah poles,^(AI) then filled their places with human bones.

The One from Heaven

³¹ The One who comes from above^(A) is above all. The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms.^[a] The One who comes from heaven is above all.^{(B) 32} He testifies^(C) to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony. ³³ The one who has accepted His testimony has affirmed that God is true.^{(D) 34} For God sent Him, and He speaks God’s words, since He^[b] gives the Spirit^(E) without measure. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son^(F) and has given all things into His hands.^{(G) 36} The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.^(H)