Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 63
A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
1 O God, You are my God;
early will I seek You;
my soul thirsts for You,
my flesh faints for You,
in a dry and thirsty land
with no water.
2 I have seen You in the sanctuary,
to see Your power and Your glory.
3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
my lips will praise You.
4 Thus will I bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.
6 When I remember You on my bed,
and meditate on You in the night watches,
7 because You have been my help,
therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.
8 My soul clings hard to You;
Your right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek my soul to destroy it
will go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They will fall by the sword;
they will be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king will rejoice in God;
everyone who swears by Him will glory,
because the mouth of liars will be stopped.
15 Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and he burned the Asherah. 16 As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mount. He took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, the one who announced these things.
17 Then he said, “What is this monument that I see?”
The men of the city said to 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, “Let him rest. No one shall disturb his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.
19 Moreover, all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah removed. He did to them just as he had done in Bethel. 20 He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the high places who were there, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
21 The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 For such a Passover had not been kept from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor 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 kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.
24 Moreover, Josiah disposed of the mediums, the soothsayers, the teraphim, the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he established the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. 25 Now there had been no king like him before or after, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses.
The Two Witnesses
11 I was given a reed like a measuring rod. The angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2 But exclude the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will trample on the Holy City for forty-two months. 3 And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.[a] 5 If anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. If anyone desires to harm them, he must be killed in this way. 6 They have power to shut heaven, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power over waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague as often as they desire.
7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends from the bottomless pit will wage war against them and overcome them and kill them. 8 Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 Those from every people and tribe and tongue and nation will see their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10 Those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
11 After the three and a half days, the breath[b] of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them.
13 At that same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand men were killed in the earthquake, and the remnant were frightened and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past. Listen, the third woe is coming quickly.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.