Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

NUN נ

Josiah Renews the Covenant

23 Then the king sent for and they gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to him. ² The king went up to the House of Adonai and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him—the kohanim and the prophets, all the people, young and old—and he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which was found in the House of Adonai. ³ Then the king stood by the pillar and cut a covenant before Adonai, to follow Adonai, keep His mitzvot, His laws and His decrees with all their heart and soul, in order to fulfill the words of this covenant that were written in this scroll. So all the people stood for the covenant.

⁴ Then the king commanded Hilkiah the kohen gadol, the kohanim of the second order and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Temple of Adonai all the vessels made for Baal and Asherah, and all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and took their ashes to Bethel. ⁵ He stopped the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained from burning incense on the high places in the towns of Judah and around Jerusalem, as well those burning incense to Baal, the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. ⁶ Then he brought out the Asherah pole from the House of Adonai to Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, burned it in the Kidron Valley, ground it to dust and threw its dust over the graves of the common people. ⁷ Then he tore down the quarters of the male cult prostitutes that had been in the House of Adonai, where the women had been weaving coverings for the Asherah.

⁸ Then he brought all the priests from the towns of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba. He also broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the city governor, which were on one’s left as one entered the city gate.

²¹ Then the king commanded all the people saying, “Celebrate the Passover to Adonai your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” ²² For no Passover like this had been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel or 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 observed for Adonai in Jerusalem.

²⁴ Moreover, Josiah got rid of the necromancers and the mediums, the teraphim and the idols, and all the detestable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem—in order to confirm the words of the Torah that were written in the scroll that Hilkiah the kohen found in the House of Adonai.

²⁵ Before him there had never been a king like him, who turned to Adonai with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Torah of Moses, nor has any king like him risen since him.

Treasures in Jars of Clay

4 For this reason, since we have this ministry, just as we received mercy, we do not lose heart. ² Instead, we renounced the hidden shameful ways—not walking in deception or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by the open proclamation of the truth. ³ And even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so they might not see the light of the Good News of the glory of Messiah, who is the image of God. ⁵ For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Messiah Yeshua as Lord—and ourselves as your slaves for Yeshua’s sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”^[a] is the One who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Messiah.^[b]

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay,^[c] so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God and not from ourselves. ⁸ We are hard pressed in every way, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹¹ For we who live are always being handed over to death for Yeshua’s sake, so that the life of Yeshua may be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.