Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Song of Praise and Thanks to God

66 Raise the voice of joy to God, all the earth! ² Sing out the honor of His name! Make His praise great! ³ Say to God, “How Your great works make those who hate You afraid! They will have to obey You because of Your great power. ⁴ All the earth will worship You and sing praises to You. They will sing praises to Your name.”

⁵ Come and see what God has done. There is much fear because of His great works toward the children of men. ⁶ He changed the sea into dry land. They passed through the river on foot. There we were full of joy in Him. ⁷ He rules forever by His power. His eyes keep watch over the nations. Do not let those who do not obey You honor themselves.

⁸ Give honor and thanks to God, O people, and let all hear how great He is! ⁹ He keeps us alive, and does not let our feet go out from under us.

Manasseh Rules Judah

21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king. And he ruled fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. ² Manasseh did what was sinful in the eyes of the Lord. He did the sinful things that were done by the nations whom the Lord drove out from the people of Israel. ³ He built again the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He built altars for Baal and made an object out of wood to worship the false goddess Asherah. He did as Ahab king of Israel had done. He worshiped all the stars of heaven and served them. ⁴ He built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My name.” ⁵ Manasseh built altars for all the stars of heaven in the two open spaces of the Lord’s house. ⁶ He gave his son as a burnt gift, used witchcraft and told the future. He listened to those who spoke with spirits and used their secret ways. He did things that were very sinful in the eyes of the Lord, and made the Lord angry. ⁷ Then Manasseh put the object he had made for Asherah into the house of the Lord. But the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “I have chosen this house and Jerusalem from all the families of Israel. Here I will put My name forever. ⁸ I will not make the feet of Israel travel any more from the land I gave to their fathers. But they must obey all that I have told them, and all the Law that My servant Moses told to them.” ⁹ But they did not listen. Manasseh led them to sin more than the nations whom the Lord destroyed from in front of the people of Israel.

¹⁰ Now the Lord spoke through His servants who tell what will happen in the future. He said, ¹¹ “Manasseh king of Judah has done these sinful things. He has sinned more than all the Amorites who were before him. And he has made Judah sin with his false gods. Because he has done this, ¹² the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘See, I am bringing such trouble upon Jerusalem and Judah, that the ears of whoever hears it will be painful. ¹³ I will punish Jerusalem as I did Samaria and as I did the family of Ahab. I will dry Jerusalem as one dries a dish, rubbing it and turning it upside-down. ¹⁴ I will leave alone all who are left of My people, and give them to those who hate them. They will become something taken after the battle by those who fight against them. ¹⁵ Because they have done what is bad in My eyes. They have been making Me angry since the day their fathers came from Egypt until this day.’”

¹⁴ We know that the Law is right and good, but I am a person who does what is wrong and bad. I am not my own boss. Sin is my boss. ¹⁵ I do not understand myself. I want to do what is right but I do not do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ When I do the thing I do not want to do, it shows me that the Law is right and good. ¹⁷ So I am not doing it. Sin living in me is doing it. ¹⁸ I know there is nothing good in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do good but I do not. ¹⁹ I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I am always doing the sinful things I do not want to do. ²⁰ If I am always doing the very thing I do not want to do, it means I am no longer the one who does it. It is sin that lives in me. ²¹ This has become my way of life: When I want to do what is right, I always do what is wrong. ²² My mind and heart agree with the Law of God. ²³ But there is a different law at work deep inside of me that fights with my mind. This law of sin holds me in its power because sin is still in me. ²⁴ There is no happiness in me! Who can set me free from my sinful old self? ²⁵ God’s Law has power over my mind, but sin still has power over my sinful old self. I thank God I can be free through Jesus Christ our Lord!