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Psalm 89

1  My song shall be always of the loving-kindness of the Lord: ♦︎
   with my mouth will I proclaim your faithfulness
      throughout all generations.
2  I will declare that your love is established for ever; ♦︎
   you have set your faithfulness as firm as the heavens.
3  For you said: ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one; ♦︎
   I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
4  ‘ “Your seed will I establish for ever ♦︎
   and build up your throne for all generations.” ’
5  The heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, ♦︎
   and your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones;
6  For who among the clouds can be compared to the Lord? ♦︎
   Who is like the Lord among the host of heaven?
7  A God feared in the council of the holy ones, ♦︎
   great and terrible above all those round about him.
8  Who is like you, Lord God of hosts? ♦︎
   Mighty Lord, your faithfulness is all around you.
9  You rule the raging of the sea; ♦︎
   you still its waves when they arise.
10  You crushed Rahab with a deadly wound ♦︎
   and scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11  Yours are the heavens; the earth also is yours; ♦︎
   you established the world and all that fills it.
12  You created the north and the south; ♦︎
   Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
13  You have a mighty arm; ♦︎
   strong is your hand and high is your right hand.
14  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; ♦︎
   steadfast love and faithfulness go before your face.
15  Happy are the people who know the shout of triumph: ♦︎
   they walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance.
16  In your name they rejoice all the day long ♦︎
   and are exalted in your righteousness.
17  For you are the glory of their strength, ♦︎
   and in your favour you lift up our heads.
18  Truly the Lord is our shield; ♦︎
   the Holy One of Israel is our king.

The Prophet Huldah Consulted

22 So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to the prophet Huldah, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (who lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter) and spoke to her to that effect. ²³She declared to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me, ²⁴Thus says the Lord: I will indeed bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah. ²⁵Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched. ²⁶But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, ²⁷because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord. ²⁸I will gather you to your ancestors and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place and its inhabitants.’ They took the message back to the king.

The Covenant Renewed

29 Then the king sent word and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰The king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small; he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. ³¹The king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. ³²Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin pledge themselves to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. ³³Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel, and made all who were in Israel worship the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord the God of their ancestors.

17 By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, ¹⁸of whom he had been told, ‘It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named after you.’ ¹⁹He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. ²⁰By faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau. ²¹By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, ‘bowing in worship over the top of his staff.’ ²²By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial.^*

The Faith of Moses

23 By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.^{* 24}By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶He considered abuse suffered for the Christ^* to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. ²⁷By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger; for he persevered as though^* he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.^*