Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 132

A Song of ^[a]Ascents.

¹ Lord, [earnestly] remember to David’s credit all his humiliations and hardships and endurance—

² How he swore to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

³ Surely I will not enter my dwelling house or get into my bed—

⁴ I will not permit my eyes to sleep or my eyelids to slumber,

⁵ Until I have found a place for the Lord, a habitation for the Mighty One of Jacob.^(A)

⁶ Behold, at Ephratah we [first] heard of [the discovered ark]; we found it in the fields of the wood [at Kiriath-jearim].^(B)

⁷ Let us go into His tabernacle; let us worship at His footstool.

⁸ Arise, O Lord, to Your resting-place, You and the ark [the symbol] of Your strength.

⁹ Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness (right living and right standing with God); and let Your saints shout for joy!

¹⁰ For Your servant David’s sake, turn not away the face of Your anointed and reject not Your own king.

¹¹ The Lord swore to David in truth; He will not turn back from it: One of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.^(C)

¹² If your children will keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them, their children also shall sit upon your throne forever.

¹³ For the Lord has chosen Zion, He has desired it for His habitation:

¹⁴ This is My resting-place forever [says the Lord]; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.

¹⁵ I will surely and abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread.

¹⁶ Her priests also will I clothe with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.

¹⁷ There will I make a horn spring forth and bud for David; I have ordained and prepared a lamp for My anointed [fulfilling the promises of old].^(A)

¹⁸ His enemies will I clothe with shame, but upon himself shall his crown flourish.

22 Josiah was eight years old when he began his thirty-one-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

² He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the ways of David his [forefather], and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.

³ In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the Lord’s house, saying,

⁴ Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered from the people.^(A)

⁵ And let them deliver it into the hands of the workmen who have oversight of the Lord’s house, to give to the laborers engaged in the repairing of the Lord’s house—

⁶ That is, to the carpenters, builders, and masons—and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.

⁷ However, there was no accounting required of them for the money delivered into their hands, because they dealt faithfully.

⁸ Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord! Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

⁹ And Shaphan the scribe came to the king and reported to him: Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hands of the workmen who have oversight of the house of the Lord.

¹⁰ Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

⁵⁴ Now upon hearing these things, they [the Jews] were cut to the heart and infuriated, and they ground their teeth against [Stephen].

⁵⁵ But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendor and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand;

⁵⁶ And he said, Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand!

⁵⁷ But they raised a great shout and put their hands over their ears and rushed together upon him.

⁵⁸ Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.^(A)

⁵⁹ And while they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit!

⁶⁰ And falling on his knees, he cried out loudly, Lord, fix not this sin upon them [lay it not to their charge]! And when he had said this, he fell asleep ^[a][in death].

8 And Saul was [not only] consenting to [Stephen’s] death [he was ^[b]pleased and ^[c]entirely approving]. On that day a great and severe persecution broke out against the church which was in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles (special messengers).