Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
נ (Nun)
105 Your word[a] is a lamp to walk by,
and a light to illumine my path.[b]
106 I have vowed and solemnly sworn
to keep your just regulations.
107 I am suffering terribly.
O Lord, revive me with your word.[c]
108 O Lord, please accept the freewill offerings of my praise.[d]
Teach me your regulations.
109 My life is in continual danger,[e]
but I do not forget your law.
110 The wicked lay a trap for me,
but I do not wander from your precepts.
111 I claim your rules as my permanent possession,
for they give me joy.[f]
112 I am determined to obey[g] your statutes
at all times, to the very end.
3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple with these orders:[a] 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down[b] the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord’s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door. 5 Have them hand it over to the construction foremen[c] assigned to the Lord’s temple. They in turn should pay the temple workers to repair it,[d] 6 including craftsmen, builders, and masons, and should buy wood and chiseled stone for the repair work.[e] 7 Do not audit the foremen who disburse the silver, for they are honest.”[f]
8 Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the scroll of the law in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it. 9 Shaphan the scribe went to the king and reported,[g] “Your servants melted down the silver in the temple[h] and handed it over to the construction foremen assigned to the Lord’s temple.” 10 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it out loud before the king. 11 When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes. 12 The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, 13 “Go, seek an oracle from[i] the Lord for me and the people—for all Judah. Find out about the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s great fury has been ignited against us, because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.”[j]
14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shullam son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the supervisor of the wardrobe.[k] (She lived in Jerusalem in the Mishneh[l] district.) They stated their business,[m] 15 and she said to them: “This is what the Lord God of Israel has said: ‘Say this to the man who sent you to me: 16 “This is what the Lord has said: ‘I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, all the things in the scroll that the king of Judah has read. 17 This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices[n] to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made.[o] My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’” 18 Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to seek an oracle from the Lord: “This is what the Lord God of Israel has said concerning the words you have heard: 19 ‘You displayed a sensitive spirit[p] and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people.[q] You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord. 20 ‘Therefore I will allow you to die and be buried in peace.[r] You will not have to witness[s] all the disaster I will bring on this place.’”’” Then they reported back to the king.
2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!”[a] 4 But what was the divine response[b] to him? “I have kept for myself 7,000 people[c] who have not bent the knee to Baal.”[d]
5 So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The[e] rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear,
to this very day.”[f]
9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see,
and make their backs bend continually.”[g]
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