Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

נ NUN

Josiah Restores True Worship^(A)

23 Now ^(B)the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. ² The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah, and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he ^(C)read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant ^(D)which had been found in the house of the Lord.

³ Then the king ^(E)stood by a pillar and made a ^(F)covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant. ⁴ And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the ^(G)priests of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring ^(H)out of the temple of the Lord all the articles that were made for Baal, for ^[a]Asherah, and for all ^[b]the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the ^[c]constellations, and to ^(I)all the host of heaven. ⁶ And he brought out the ^(J)wooden^[d] image from the house of the Lord, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ^(K)ashes, and threw its ashes on ^(L)the graves of the common people. ⁷ Then he tore down the ritual ^[e]booths ^(M)of the ^[f]perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, ^(N)where the ^(O)women wove hangings for the wooden image. ⁸ And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from ^(P)Geba to Beersheba; also he broke down the high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate.

²¹ Then the king commanded all the people, saying, ^(A)“Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, ^(B)as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ^22 (C)Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. ²³ But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the Lord in Jerusalem. ²⁴ Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of ^(D)the law which were written in the book ^(E)that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. ^25 (F)Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.

The Light of Christ’s Gospel

4 Therefore, since we have this ministry, ^(A)as we have received mercy, we ^(B)do not lose heart. ² But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor ^[a]handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth ^(C)commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ³ But even if our gospel is veiled, ^(D)it is veiled to those who are perishing, ⁴ whose minds ^(E)the god of this age ^(F)has blinded, who do not believe, lest ^(G)the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, ^(H)who is the image of God, should shine on them. ^5 (I)For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ^(J)ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For it is the God ^(K)who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has ^(L)shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Cast Down but Unconquered

⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, ^(M)that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. ⁸ We are ^(N)hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not ^(O)forsaken; ^(P)struck down, but not destroyed— ^10 (Q)always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, ^(R)that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. ¹¹ For we who live ^(S)are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹² So then death is working in us, but life in you.