Manasseh Reigns in Judah

21 ^(A)Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. ² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(B)according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ³ For he rebuilt the high places ^(C)that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made ^(D)an Asherah, ^(E)as Ahab king of Israel had done, ^(F)and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. ^4 (G)And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^(H)“In Jerusalem will I put my name.” ⁵ And he built altars ^(I)for all the host of heaven in ^(J)the two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (K)And he burned his son as an offering^[a] and ^(L)used fortune-telling and ^(M)omens and dealt ^(N)with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁷ And the carved image of ^(O)Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, ^(P)and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. ^8 (Q)And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹ But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh's Idolatry Denounced

¹⁰ And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, ^11 (R)“Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things ^(S)more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, ^(T)and has made Judah also to sin ^(U)with his idols, ¹² therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster^[b] that the ears of everyone who hears of it ^(V)will tingle. ^13 (W)And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”

^16 (X)Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin ^(Y)that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

^17 (Z)Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^18 (AA)And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, ^(AB)in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon Reigns in Judah

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰ And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(AC)as Manasseh his father had done. ²¹ He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served ^(AD)the idols that his father served and worshiped them. ^22 (AE)He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. ²³ And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. ²⁴ But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. ²⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁶ And he was buried in his tomb ^(AF)in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.

The Lord Will Turn Mourning to Joy

31 ^(A)“At that time, declares the Lord, ^(B)I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”

²³ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Once more they shall use these words in the land of Judah and in its cities, ^(BE)when I restore their fortunes:

^24 (BI)And Judah and all its cities shall dwell there together, and ^(BJ)the farmers and those who wander with their flocks. ²⁵ For I will ^(BK)satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

²⁶ At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

^27 (BL)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when ^(BM)I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with ^(BN)the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸ And it shall come to pass that ^(BO)as I have watched over them ^(BP)to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, ^(BQ)so I will watch over them ^(BR)to build and to plant, declares the Lord. ²⁹ In those days they shall no longer say:

^30 (BT)But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

The New Covenant

^31 (BU)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make ^(BV)a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when ^(BW)I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, ^(BX)though I was their husband, declares the Lord. ^33 (BY)For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: ^(BZ)I will put my law within them, and I will write it ^(CA)on their hearts. ^(CB)And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴ And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ ^(CC)for they shall all know me, ^(CD)from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For ^(CE)I will forgive their iniquity, and ^(CF)I will remember their sin no more.”

^38 (CL)“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord ^(CM)from the Tower of Hananel to ^(CN)the Corner Gate. ^39 (CO)And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah. ^40 (CP)The whole valley of the dead bodies and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the ^(CQ)brook Kidron, to the corner of ^(CR)the Horse Gate toward the east, ^(CS)shall be sacred to the Lord. ^(CT)It shall not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.”

By Faith, or by Works of the Law?

3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? ^(A)It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly ^(B)portrayed as crucified. ² Let me ask you only this: ^(C)Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by ^(D)hearing with faith? ³ Are you so foolish? ^(E)Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by^[a] the flesh? ^4 (F)Did you suffer^[b] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? ⁵ Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and ^(G)works miracles among you do so ^(H)by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— ⁶ just as ^(I)Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

⁷ Know then that it is ^(J)those of faith who are ^(K)the sons of Abraham. ⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that ^(L)God would justify^[c] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ^(M)“In you shall all the nations be blessed.” ⁹ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹⁰ For all who rely on works of the law are ^(N)under a curse; for it is written, ^(O)“Cursed be everyone who does not ^(P)abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” ¹¹ Now it is evident that ^(Q)no one is justified before God by the law, for ^(R)“The righteous shall live by faith.”^{[d] 12} But the law is not of faith, rather ^(S)“The one who does them shall live by them.” ¹³ Christ ^(T)redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ^(U)“Cursed is everyone who is hanged ^(V)on a tree”— ¹⁴ so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might ^(W)come to the Gentiles, so that ^(X)we might receive ^(Y)the promised Spirit^[e] through faith.

The Law and the Promise

^15 (Z)To give a human example, brothers:^{[f] (AA)}even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. ¹⁶ Now ^(AB)the promises were made ^(AC)to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, ^(AD)“And to your offspring,” who is Christ. ¹⁷ This is what I mean: the law, which came ^(AE)430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as ^(AF)to make the promise void. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but ^(AG)God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

¹⁹ Why then the law? ^(AH)It was added because of transgressions, ^(AI)until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was ^(AJ)put in place through angels ^(AK)by an intermediary. ²⁰ Now ^(AL)an intermediary implies more than one, but ^(AM)God is one.

²¹ Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For ^(AN)if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. ²² But the Scripture ^(AO)imprisoned everything under sin, so that ^(AP)the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given ^(AQ)to those who believe.

²³ Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, ^(AR)imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. ²⁴ So then, ^(AS)the law was our ^(AT)guardian until Christ came, ^(AU)in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus ^(AV)you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷ For as many of you as ^(AW)were baptized ^(AX)into Christ have ^(AY)put on Christ. ^28 (AZ)There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave^[g] nor free, ^(BA)there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And ^(BB)if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, ^(BC)heirs according to promise.

Sons and Heirs

4 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave,^[a] though he is the owner of everything, ² but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. ³ In the same way we also, when we were children, ^(A)were enslaved to the elementary principles^[b] of the world. ⁴ But ^(B)when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, ^(C)born ^(D)of woman, born ^(E)under the law, ^5 (F)to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive ^(G)adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent ^(H)the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then ^(I)an heir through God.

Paul's Concern for the Galatians

⁸ Formerly, when you ^(J)did not know God, you ^(K)were enslaved to those that by nature ^(L)are not gods. ⁹ But now that you have come to know God, or rather ^(M)to be known by God, ^(N)how can you turn back again to ^(O)the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? ^10 (P)You observe days and months and seasons and years! ¹¹ I am afraid ^(Q)I may have labored over you in vain.

¹² Brothers,^{[c] (R)}I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. ^(S)You did me no wrong. ¹³ You know it was ^(T)because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you ^(U)at first, ¹⁴ and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me ^(V)as an angel of God, ^(W)as Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. ¹⁶ Have I then become your enemy by ^(X)telling you the truth?^{[d] 17} They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. ¹⁸ It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and ^(Y)not only when I am present with you, ^19 (Z)my little children, ^(AA)for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ ^(AB)is formed in you! ²⁰ I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

Example of Hagar and Sarah

²¹ Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? ²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, ^(AC)one by a slave woman and ^(AD)one by a free woman. ²³ But ^(AE)the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while ^(AF)the son of the free woman was born through promise. ²⁴ Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two ^(AG)covenants. ^(AH)One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. ²⁵ Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;^[e] she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶ But ^(AI)the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷ For it is written,

²⁸ Now you,^[f] brothers, ^(AK)like Isaac, ^(AL)are children of promise. ²⁹ But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh ^(AM)persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, ^(AN)so also it is now. ³⁰ But what does the Scripture say? ^(AO)“Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” ³¹ So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but ^(AP)of the free woman.