Tuesday in Epiphany

1Verse 1. Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2Verse 2. And he went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets— all the people small and great— and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD. 3Verse 3. So the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments, decrees, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, and to carry out the words of the covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant. 4Verse 4. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5Verse 5. Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem — those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. 6Verse 6. He brought the Asherah pole from the house of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and there he burned it, ground it to powder, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people. 7Verse 7. He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah. 8Verse 8. Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which was to the left of the city gate. 21Verse 21. The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22Verse 22. No such Passover had been observed from the days of the judges who had governed Israel through all the days of the kings of Israel and Judah. 23Verse 23. But in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed to the LORD in Jerusalem. 24Verse 24. Furthermore, Josiah removed the mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to carry out the words of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD. 25Verse 25. Neither before nor after Josiah was there any king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, according to all the Law of Moses.

1Verse 1. Therefore, since God in His mercy has given us this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2Verse 2. Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3Verse 3. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4Verse 4. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5Verse 5. For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6Verse 6. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7Verse 7. Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us. 8Verse 8. We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9Verse 9. persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. 10Verse 10. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11Verse 11. For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12Verse 12. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.