Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Eternal Dwelling of God in Zion

A Song of Ascents.

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. ^9 (Q)Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, ^(R)but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.

¹⁰ And he defiled ^(S)Topheth, which is in ^(T)the Valley of the ^[g]Son of Hinnom, ^(U)that no man might make his son or his daughter ^(V)pass through the fire to Molech. ¹¹ Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had ^[h]dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹² The altars that were ^(W)on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which ^(X)Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron. ¹³ Then the king defiled the ^[i]high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the ^[j]south of ^[k]the Mount of Corruption, which ^(Y)Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon. ¹⁴ And he ^(Z)broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images, and filled their places with the bones of men.

^31 (A)He who comes from above ^(B)is above all; ^(C)he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. ^(D)He who comes from heaven is above all. ³² And ^(E)what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. ³³ He who has received His testimony ^(F)has certified that God is true. ^34 (G)For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit ^(H)by measure. ^35 (I)The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. ^36 (J)He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the ^(K)wrath of God abides on him.”