Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise for God’s Mighty Deeds and for His Answer to Prayer.
For the choir director. A Song. A Psalm.
66 (A)Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;
2 Sing the (B)glory of His name;
Make His (C)praise glorious.
3 Say to God, “How (D)awesome are Your works!
Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will [a](E)give feigned obedience to You.
4 “(F)All the earth will worship You,
And will (G)sing praises to You;
They will sing praises to Your name.” [b]Selah.
5 (H)Come and see the works of God,
Who is (I)awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men.
6 He (J)turned the sea into dry land;
They passed through (K)the river on foot;
There let us (L)rejoice in Him!
7 He (M)rules by His might forever;
His (N)eyes keep watch on the nations;
Let not the rebellious (O)exalt themselves. Selah.
Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah
21 (A)Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 (B)He did evil in the sight of the Lord, (C)according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. 3 For (D)he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and (E)he erected altars for Baal and made an [a]Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and (F)worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 (G)He built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “(H)In Jerusalem I will put My name.” 5 For he built altars for (I)all the host of heaven in (J)the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 (K)He made his son pass through the fire, (L)practiced witchcraft and used divination, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord provoking Him to anger. 7 Then (M)he set the carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which the Lord said to David and to his son Solomon, “(N)In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. 8 And I (O)will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe 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 (P)seduced them to do evil more than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.
The King’s Idolatries Rebuked
10 Now the Lord spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, 11 “(Q)Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, (R)having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and (S)has also made Judah sin (T)with his idols; 12 therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, (U)both his ears will tingle. 13 (V)I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become as plunder and spoil to all their enemies; 15 because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt, even to this day.’”
The Conflict of Two Natures
14 For we know that the Law is (A)spiritual, but I am (B)of flesh, (C)sold [a](D)into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, (E)I do not understand; for I am not practicing (F)what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with (G)the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, (H)no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my (I)flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For (J)the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, (K)I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then (L)the [b]principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God [c]in (M)the inner man, 23 but I see (N)a different law in [d]the members of my body, waging war against the (O)law of my mind and making me a prisoner [e]of (P)the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from [f](Q)the body of this (R)death? 25 (S)Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh (T)the law of sin.
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