Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 63^[a]

Thirst for God

¹ A psalm of David. When he was in the wilderness of Judah.^[b]

¹⁵ He broke down the altar in Bethel, the altar and the high place that Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, had built. He burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and he also burned the Asherah.

¹⁶ Josiah looked around and when he saw that there were graves on the hillside, he sent for and removed the bones from the graves. He burned them upon the altar to defile it. This fulfilled the word of the Lord that the man of God had proclaimed through these words.

¹⁷ He then asked, “What is that monument that I see?” The men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.” ¹⁸ He said, “Leave it alone! Do not let anyone disturb his bones!” So they left his bones and the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

¹⁹ Josiah also removed all of the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria that the kings of Israel had established, thus provoking the Lord to anger, just as he had done at Bethel.

²⁰ Josiah killed all of the priests of the high places upon the altars and he burned human bones upon them. He then returned to Jerusalem.

²¹ The king then commanded all of the people saying, “Observe the Passover of the Lord, your God, according to what is written in this book of this covenant.” ²² Passover had not been observed from the days of the judges who governed Israel nor all throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. ²³ This Passover of the Lord was celebrated in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of the reign of King Josiah.

²⁴ Josiah also expelled the mediums and the wizards. He did away with the household gods, the idols, and all the other abominations that were to be found in the land of Judah and Jerusalem. He did this to fulfill the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the temple of the Lord.

²⁵ There had never before been any king like him nor will there ever be one after him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his might according to the law of Moses.

Chapter 11

The Two Witnesses and the Fate of Jerusalem.^{[a] 1} I was next given a staff to use as a measuring rod, and I was told, “Go forth and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the people who are worshiping there. ² However, exclude the outer court of the temple from your measurements, because it has been handed over to the Gentiles and they will trample on the holy city for forty-two months.^{[b] 3} I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for those twelve hundred and sixty days, wearing sackcloth.”

⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand in the presence of the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone tries to harm them, fire pours forth from their mouths and consumes their enemies. Anyone who attempts to harm them will surely be killed in this manner. ⁶ They have the power to shut up the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying. They also have the power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with every type of plague as often as they desire.

⁷ When they have completed their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war against them and overpower and kill them. ⁸ Their corpses will lie in the street of the great city, known by the symbolic names of Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.

⁹ People of every race, tribe, nation, and language will gaze at their corpses for three and a half days and refuse to allow them to be buried. ¹⁰ The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them as they celebrate and exchange gifts, because these two prophets had been a source of torment to them.

¹¹ However, after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and when they rose to their feet, great terror filled those who saw them. ¹² Then I heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here,” and while their enemies were watching, they went up to heaven in a cloud.

¹³ At that very hour there was a violent earthquake, and a tenth of the city was destroyed. Seven thousand people were killed during the earthquake. Those who survived were overcome with fear and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second woe has passed, but the third will come quickly.