2 Kings 23, Hebrews 5, Joel 2, Psalm 142

2 Kings 23,

1 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
 
2 He went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets-all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD.
 
3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD-to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
 
4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel.
 
5 He did away with the pagan priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem-those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts.
 
6 He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people.
 
7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes, which were in the temple of the LORD and where women did weaving for Asherah.
 
8 Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the shrines at the gates-at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which is on the left of the city gate.
 
9 Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.
 
10 He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
 
11 He removed from the entrance to the temple of the LORD the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melech. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.
 
12 He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the LORD. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley.
 
13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption-the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the people of Ammon.
 
14 Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.
 
15 Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin-even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also.
 
16 Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.
 
17 The king asked, "What is that tombstone I see?" The men of the city said, "It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it."
 
18 "Leave it alone," he said. "Don't let anyone disturb his bones." So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
 
19 Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed and defiled all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria that had provoked the LORD to anger.
 
20 Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.
 
21 The king gave this order to all the people: "Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant."
 
22 Not since the days of the judges who led Israel, nor throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, had any such Passover been observed.
 
23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the LORD in Jerusalem.
 
24 Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the LORD.
 
25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did-with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
 
26 Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger.
 
27 So the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, 'There shall my Name be.' "
 
28 As for the other events of Josiah's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
 
29 While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Neco faced him and killed him at Megiddo.
 
30 Josiah's servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.
 
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.
 
32 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.
 
33 Pharaoh Neco put him in chains at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
 
34 Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, and there he died.
 
35 Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Neco the silver and gold he demanded. In order to do so, he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments.
 
36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother's name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.
 
37 And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his fathers had done.
 

Hebrews 5,

1 Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
 
2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.
 
3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.
 
4 No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was.
 
5 So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father."
 
6 And he says in another place, "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
 
7 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
 
8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered
 
9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
 
10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
 
11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.
 
12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
 
13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
 
14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
 

Joel 2,

1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand-
 
2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come.
 
3 Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste-nothing escapes them.
 
4 They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry.
 
5 With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle.
 
6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale.
 
7 They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course.
 
8 They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks.
 
9 They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows.
 
10 Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.
 
11 The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?
 
12 "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."
 
13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
 
14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing-grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.
 
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.
 
16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.
 
17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?' "
 
18 Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people.
 
19 The LORD will reply to them: "I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations.
 
20 "I will drive the northern army far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land, with its front columns going into the eastern sea and those in the rear into the western sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise." Surely he has done great things.
 
21 Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great things.
 
22 Be not afraid, O wild animals, for the open pastures are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
 
23 Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
 
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
 
25 "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten-the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm-my great army that I sent among you.
 
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.
 
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.
 
28 "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
 
29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
 
30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
 
31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
 
32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.
 

Psalm 142

1 I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy.
 
2 I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.
 
3 When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me.
 
4 Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.
 
5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."
 
6 Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.
 
7 Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.