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First reading: 2 Kings 22:8-13,23:1-3
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The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, ‘I have found the Book of the Law in the Temple of the Lord.’’’ And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it. Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him as follows, ‘Your servants’ he said ‘have melted down the silver which was in the Temple and have handed it over to the masters of works attached to the Temple of the Lord.’ Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, ‘Hilkiah the priest has given me a book’; and Shaphan read it aloud in the king’s presence.
On hearing the contents of the Book of the Law, the king tore his garments, and gave the following order to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s minister: ‘Go and consult the Lord, on behalf of me and the people, about the contents of this book that has been found. Great indeed must be the anger of the Lord blazing out against us because our ancestors did not obey what this book says by practising everything written in it.’
The king then had all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem summoned to him, and the king went up to the Temple of the Lord with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, priests, prophets and all the people, of high or low degree. In their hearing he read out everything that was said in the book of the covenant found in the Temple of the Lord. The king stood beside the pillar, and in the presence of the Lord he made a covenant to follow the Lord and keep his commandments and decrees and laws with all his heart and soul, in order to enforce the terms of the covenant as written in that book. All the people gave their allegiance to the covenant.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 118(119):33-37,40
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Lord, teach me your statutes.
Teach me the demands of your statutes
and I will keep them to the end.
Train me to observe your law,
to keep it with my heart.
Lord, teach me your statutes.
Guide me in the path of your commands;
for there is my delight.
Bend my heart to your will
and not to love of gain.
Lord, teach me your statutes.
Keep my eyes from what is false;
by your word, give me life.
See, I long for your precepts;
then in your justice, give me life.
Lord, teach me your statutes.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open my eyes, O Lord, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
Alleluia!