Judah’s King Manasseh

21 Manasseh^(A) was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.^{(B) 2} He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,^(C) imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.^{(D) 3} He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed^(E) and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah,^(F) as King Ahab of Israel had done;^(G) he also bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky^(H) and served them. ⁴ He built altars in the Lord’s temple,^(I) where the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where I will put my name.”^{(J) 5} He built altars to all the stars in the sky^(K) in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple.^{(L) 6} He sacrificed his son in the fire,^[a](M) practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists.^(N) He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him.^(O)

⁷ Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.^{(P) 8} I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land I gave to their ancestors if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole law that my servant Moses commanded them.”^{(Q) 9} But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.^(R)

¹⁰ The Lord said through his servants the prophets, ¹¹ “Since King Manasseh of Judah has committed all these detestable acts^(S)—worse evil than the Amorites^(T) who preceded him had done—and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin, ¹² this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.^{[b](U) 13} I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason’s level used on the house of Ahab,^(V) and I will wipe^(W) Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ I will abandon the remnant^(X) of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have angered me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.’”^(Y)

¹⁶ Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another.^(Z) This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.

Manasseh’s Death

¹⁷ The rest^(AA) of the events of Manasseh’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.^{(AB) 18} Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon became king in his place.

Judah’s King Amon

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king,^(AC) and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. ²⁰ He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father Manasseh had done.^{(AD) 21} He walked in all the ways his father had walked; he served the idols his father had served, and he bowed in worship to them.^{(AE) 22} He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors^(AF) and did not walk in the ways of the Lord.^(AG)

²³ Amon’s servants conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house.^{(AH) 24} The common people^[c] killed^(AI) all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah^(AJ) king in his place.

²⁵ The rest of the events of Amon’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. ²⁶ He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.

Judah’s King Manasseh

33 Manasseh was twelve years old^(A) when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ² He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.^{(B) 3} He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down^(C) and reestablished the altars for the Baals. He made Asherah poles, and he bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served them. ⁴ He built altars^(D) in the Lord’s temple, where the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where my name will remain forever.”^{(E) 5} He built altars to all the stars in the sky in both courtyards^(F) of the Lord’s temple. ⁶ He passed his sons through the fire in Ben Hinnom Valley.^(G) He practiced witchcraft, divination, and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists.^(H) He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him.

⁷ Manasseh^(I) set up a carved image of the idol, which he had made, in God’s temple^(J) that God had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever^[a](K) in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.^{(L) 8} I will never again remove the feet of the Israelites from the land where I stationed your^[b](M) ancestors,^(N) if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them through Moses—all the law, statutes, and judgments.” ⁹ So Manasseh caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

Manasseh’s Repentance

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they didn’t listen.^{(O) 11} So he brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.^{(P) 12} When he was in distress, he sought the favor of the Lord his God and earnestly humbled himself^(Q) before the God of his ancestors. ¹³ He prayed to him, and the Lord was receptive to his prayer. He granted his request^(R) and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. So Manasseh came to know that the Lord is God.^(S)

¹⁴ After this, he built the outer wall of the city of David from west of Gihon^(T) in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate;^(U) he brought it around Ophel,^(V) and he heightened it considerably. He also placed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

¹⁵ He removed the foreign gods and the idol^(W) from the Lord’s temple, along with all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the Lord’s temple and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. ¹⁶ He built^[c] the altar of the Lord and offered fellowship and thanksgiving sacrifices on it. Then he told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁷ However, the people still sacrificed at the high places,^(X) but only to the Lord their God.

Manasseh’s Death

¹⁸ The rest of the events^(Y) of Manasseh’s reign, along with his prayer^(Z) to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are written in the Events of Israel’s Kings. ¹⁹ His prayer and how God was receptive to his prayer, and all his sin and unfaithfulness and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself, they are written in the Events of Hozai. ²⁰ Manasseh rested with his ancestors, and he was buried in his own house. His son Amon became king in his place.

Judah’s King Amon

²¹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²² He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father Manasseh had done.^(AA) Amon sacrificed to all the carved images that his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. ²³ But he did not humble himself before the Lord like his father Manasseh humbled himself;^(AB) instead, Amon increased his guilt.

²⁴ So his servants conspired against him and put him to death^(AC) in his own house. ²⁵ The common people^[d] killed all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

Psalm 71

God’s Help in Old Age

Living Letters

3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you? ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.^{(A) 3} You show that you are Christ’s letter,^(B) delivered^[a] by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God^(C)—not on tablets of stone^(D) but on tablets of human hearts.^[b](E)

Paul’s Competence

⁴ Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. ⁵ It is not that we are competent in^[c] ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.^{(F) 6} He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant,^(G) not of the letter,^(H) but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

New Covenant Ministry

⁷ Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory,^(I) so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside, ⁸ how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? ⁹ For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory. ¹⁰ In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹ For if what was set aside^(J) was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.

¹² Since, then, we have such a hope,^(K) we act with great boldness. ¹³ We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face^(L) to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end^[d] of the glory of what was being set aside, ¹⁴ but their minds were hardened.^(M) For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant,^(N) the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ.^{(O) 15} Yet still today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, ¹⁶ but whenever a person turns^(P) to the Lord, the veil is removed.^{(Q) 17} Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at^[e](R) the glory of the Lord^(S) and are being transformed^(T) into the same image^(U) from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.^[f]