Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 63
A song of David while in the wilderness of Judah.
1 O True God, You are my God, the One whom I trust.
I seek You with every fiber of my being.
In this dry and weary land with no water in sight,
my soul is dry and longs for You.
My body aches for You, for Your presence.
2 I have seen You in Your sanctuary
and have been awed by Your power and glory.
3 Your steadfast love is better than life itself,
so my lips will give You all my praise.
4 I will bless You with every breath of my life;
I will lift up my hands in praise to Your name.
5 My soul overflows with satisfaction, as when I feast on foods rich in marrow and fat;
with excitement in my heart and joy on my lips, I offer You praise.
6 Often at night I lie in bed and remember You,
meditating on Your greatness till morning smiles through my window.
7 You have been my constant helper;
therefore, I sing for joy under the protection of Your wings.
8 My soul clings to You;
Your right hand reaches down and holds me up.
9 But as for those who try to destroy my life,
they will descend into eternal shadows, deep beneath the earth.
10 They will fall by the sword,
and wild dogs will feast on their corpses.
11 But the king will find his joy in the True God;
all who make pledges and invoke His name will celebrate,
while the mindless prattle of cheaters and deceivers will be silenced.
15 He tore down the altar at Bethel, the high place—the one erected by Jeroboam (Nebat’s son), the very Jeroboam who caused the Israelites to live sinful lives. He crushed the rocks and pounded them into dust and set fire to the sacred pole.
16 Josiah turned and observed the graves there on the mountain; and he sent men to gather up the bones and set fire to them on the altar, defiling the altar by contact with corpses exactly as the Eternal One had spoken through the man of God.[a]
Josiah (noticing a specific burial plot): 17 What is the significance of that marker?
Men of the City: This is a grave marker for the man of God from Judah who prophesied the very things which you have just done to the altar at Bethel.
Josiah: 18 Leave him be. No one is to lay a finger on his bones, so that he may rest in peace.
They let his bones rest in peace next to the bones of the Samaritan prophet.[b]
19 Josiah tore down all the temples of the high places built by Israel’s kings in the Samaritan cities. These high places had caused the Eternal’s anger to boil. Josiah did the same thing to these houses as he did to the houses in Bethel.
20 Josiah also killed all the priests who were present at the high places. He killed them on the altars and set fire to their bones. Then he went back to the place from which he came—Jerusalem.
Josiah (to the people): 21 The covenant book that was found in the temple says we must observe the Passover and rejoice in the Eternal One our God, who led us out of bondage in Egypt.
22 The Passover had not been observed from the time when the judges judged Israel, even throughout all the generations of Israel’s kings and Judah’s kings. 23 But during King Josiah’s 18th year, the Passover was celebrated in honor of the Eternal One in Jerusalem.
24 In addition, Josiah destroyed the clairvoyants, necromancers, household gods, idols, and every other corruption in Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he could make things right according to the laws and commands of the covenant book Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Eternal’s house.
25 No king before him or after him ever gave himself to the Eternal so fully and deeply as Josiah did. He offered to the Eternal with all his being: all of his heart, all of his soul, and all his might, in accordance with the sacred law given through Moses.
The scroll John eats is taken from the hand of the powerful messenger who announces the fulfillment of all the prophecies. Just as it did for the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel (2:8–3:4), the scroll represents the message John is required to proclaim; but first he must take it in and it must become a part of him. Initially it tastes sweet, but as it settles deep within him, it becomes bitter. God’s message is always bittersweet. It is sweet joy for those who turn to God, but bitter sadness for those who do not accept it.
11 Then I received a measuring rod. It resembled a staff, and I was commanded to take measurements.
A Voice: Get up, and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 However, do not measure the court outside of the temple. Separate that area out because it has been handed over to the nations. They will trample over the holy city for 42 months. 3 I will authorize my two witnesses to prophesy for 1,260 days dressed in sackcloth, the clothes that mourners wear.
4 These two witnesses are the two olive trees and two lampstands standing in front of the Lord of the earth. 5 If anyone wishes to harm the witnesses, fire spews out of the witnesses’ mouths and consumes their foe in flames. Anyone who wishes to harm them is destined to die this way. 6 They have the authority to shut up the sky so that no rain may fall during the time of their prophecies. They also have authority to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with any plague whenever they desire.
The two witnesses bear a striking resemblance to the faithful prophets of Israel and the faithful martyrs of the churches. Together they stand speaking God’s message as the nations rant and rave and trample the holy city. The lampstands, which signify the churches, are not the light, but they welcome the light and present it to the world. The olive tree, even today, is a symbol of Israel. Olive trees supply the oil for the lamps so that they may burn brightly in the darkness. For a season, the two witnesses enjoy God’s protection, but a time is coming when they will fall victim to the nations and then lie silent.
7 On the day they finish their testimony, the beast from the abyss will declare war on them and win victory by killing them. 8 Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city (which, spiritually speaking, is called Sodom and Egypt) where their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days, representatives of the peoples and ethnicities, languages and nations stare down at their lifeless bodies and refuse them a proper burial. 10 Because these two prophets tormented the earth dwellers by speaking God’s message, the people will rejoice over their dead bodies and celebrate their deaths by exchanging gifts with one another.
11 At the end of the three and a half days, the spirit of life that comes from God entered their corpses, raising them, and they stood again on their feet. Those who looked on were terrified by what they saw. 12 Then they heard a great voice from heaven.
A Voice: Come up here!
Their enemies watched the spectacle as the witnesses ascended into heaven in a cloud.
13 In that same hour, a great earthquake shook the earth causing one-tenth of the city to crumble into dust, and 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake. Then the rest who were left alive, quaking in fear, turned and glorified the God of heaven.
14 The second disaster has passed; watch as the third disaster comes quickly.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.