Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the Director: A song. A Psalm.
A Song of Praise
66 Shout praise to God all the earth!
2 Sing praise about the glory of his name.[a]
Make his praise glorious.
3 Say to God: “How awesome are your works!
Because of your great strength
your enemies cringe before you.”
4 The whole earth worships you.
They sing praise to you.
They sing praise to your name.
5 Come and see the awesome works of God
on behalf of human beings:
6 He turned the sea into dry land.
Israel[b] crossed the river on foot;
let us rejoice in him.
7 He rules by his power forever,
his eyes watching over the nations.
Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves.
8 Bless our God, people,
and let the sound of his praise be heard.
9 He gives us life
and does not permit our feet to slip.
Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah
21 Manasseh began to reign at the age of twelve, and he reigned for 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Hephzibah. 2 He did what the Lord considered to be evil, following the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord had expelled in full view of the people of Israel. 3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal, crafted an Asherah, just as King Ahab of Israel had done, and worshipped and served the stars of heaven. 4 He also built altars in the Lord’s Temple, about which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will place my Name.” 5 He built two altars to every star in the heavens in the two courts of the Lord’s Temple. 6 He made his son into a burnt offering, practiced witchcraft, used divination, and consorted with mediums and spirit-channelers.[a] He practiced many things that the Lord considered to be evil and provoked him.
7 He also erected the carved image of Asherah that he had made inside the Temple about which the Lord had spoken to David and to his son Solomon, “I will put my Name forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all of the tribes of Israel. 8 And I will not make Israel’s feet to wander anymore from the land that I have given to their ancestors, if they will only be careful to do everything that I have commanded them according to the entire Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 9 But they would not listen. Manasseh led them astray to practice more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed in the presence of the Israelis.
The Lord Rebukes Manasseh’s Idolatry
10 So the Lord announced through his prophets, 11 “Because King Manasseh of Judah has committed these despicable things, acting more sinfully than did all of the Amorites who preceded him, including making Judah sin with its idols, 12 therefore this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Look! I’m going to bring such a[b] disaster to Jerusalem and Judah that both ears of those who hear about it will ring. 13 I’ll stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line that is Samaria and the plumb line that is Ahab’s dynasty. Then I’ll wipe Jerusalem like one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down! 14 I will abandon the survivors of my heritage and hand them over to their enemies. They will become war booty and spoil to all of their enemies, 15 because they have done what I consider to be evil and they have provoked me from the day their ancestors left Egypt right up to this day!’”
14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am merely human,[a] sold as a slave to sin.[b] 15 I don’t understand what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I want to do, but instead do what I hate. 16 Now if I practice what I don’t want to do, I am admitting that the Law is good. 17 As it is, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I don’t do the good I want to do, but instead do the evil that I don’t want to do. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me.
21 So I find this to be a principle:[c] when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me. 22 For I delight in the Law of God in my inner being, 23 but I see in my body[d] a different principle[e] waging war with the Law in my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin that exists in my body.[f] 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is infected by[g] death? 25 Thank God through Jesus the Messiah,[h] our Lord, because with my mind I myself can serve the Law of God, even while with my human nature[i] I serve the law of sin.
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