Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 132[a]
The Divine Promises Made to David
1 A song of ascents.
Remember, O Lord, for David’s sake,
all the difficulties he endured.[b]
2 [c]He swore an oath to the Lord
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3 “I will not enter the house I live in
or lie down on the bed where I sleep,
4 neither will I allow myself to fall asleep
or even to close my eyes,
5 until I find a home for the Lord,
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
6 We heard of it in Ephrathah;
we came upon it[d] in the fields of Jaar.
7 [e]Let us enter his dwelling place,
let us worship at his footstool.
8 Arise, O Lord, and go up to your resting place,
you and the Ark of your might.
9 Let your priests clothe themselves with righteousness,[f]
and let your saints shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
do not reject your anointed one.[g]
11 The Lord swore this oath[h] to David,
an oath that he will not renounce:
“One of your own descendants
I will place on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and the statutes that I will teach them,
their sons will also rule
on your throne from age to age.”[i]
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has designated it for his home:
14 “This will be my resting place forever;
here I will reside, for such is my wish.
15 [a]“I will bless it with abundant provisions
and satisfy its poor with their fill of bread.
16 I will clothe its priests with salvation,
and its saints will shout for joy.
17 “There I will raise up a horn for David[b]
and prepare a lamp for my anointed one.
18 I will clothe his enemies with shame,
but on his head there will be a resplendent crown.”[c]
Chapter 23
Josiah the Reformer. 1 The king then sent and assembled all of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 The king went up to the temple of the Lord, and all of the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem went with him, including the priests, the prophets, and all of the people, both the humble and the important. He read aloud all of the words from the book of the covenant that had been found in the temple of the Lord.
3 The king stood by the pillar, and he made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to observe his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, fulfilling the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All of the people joined in the covenant.
4 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the doormen to carry out of the temple of the Lord all of the utensils that had been used for Baal, for Asherah, and for the heavenly host. He burned them outside of Jerusalem in a field in the Kidron Valley, and they took their ashes to Bethel.
5 He expelled the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and those that surrounded Jerusalem, those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the planets, and to all of the hosts of heaven. 6 He brought the Asherah out of the temple of the Lord, taking it outside of Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley. He smashed it to pieces, tossing its dust upon the graves of the common people.
7 He also tore down the quarters that housed the male prostitutes in the temple of the Lord, and where the women did the weavings for the Asherah. 8 He brought all of the priests from the cities of Judah, and he desecrated all of the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba where the priests had burned incense. He demolished the shrines at the gates, at the entrance to the gate of Joshua, the leader of the city, which was to the left of the city gate. 9 Although the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord, they did eat the unleavened bread with their brethren.
10 He desecrated Topheth[a] in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in fire to Molech. 11 He removed the horses that the king of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the temple of the Lord. They had been in the court near the room of the official Nathan-melech. He burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.
12 The king demolished the altars[b] that the kings of Judah had built on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz as well as the two altars that Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He broke them to pieces and cast them into the Kidron Valley. 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were to the east of Jerusalem, that is, to the south of the Hill of Corruption which Solomon, the king of Israel, had dedicated to the Ashtaroth, the vile goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the vile god of the Moabites, and to Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites.
14 He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He defiled these places with human bones.
He Who Comes from Above[a]
31 “The one who comes from above is above all.
The one who is of the earth is earthly
and speaks of earthly things.
The one who comes from heaven is above all.
32 He bears witness to the things he has seen and heard,
yet no one accepts his testimony.
33 “Whoever accepts his testimony
attests that God speaks the truth.
34 For the one whom God has sent
speaks the words of God,
for God gives him the Spirit without measure.[b]
35 The Father loves the Son,
and he has entrusted everything into his hand.
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;
whoever does not believe in the Son will not see life,
but the wrath of God rests upon him.”
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