Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God’s Covenant with David
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing of thy steadfast love, O Lord,[a] for ever;
with my mouth I will proclaim thy faithfulness to all generations.
2 For thy steadfast love was established for ever,
thy faithfulness is firm as the heavens.
3 Thou hast said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your descendants for ever,
and build your throne for all generations.’”Selah
5 Let the heavens praise thy wonders, O Lord,
thy faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings[b] is like the Lord,
7 a God feared in the council of the holy ones,
great and terrible[c] above all that are round about him?
8 O Lord God of hosts,
who is mighty as thou art, O Lord,
with thy faithfulness round about thee?
9 Thou dost rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, thou stillest them.
10 Thou didst crush Rahab like a carcass,
thou didst scatter thy enemies with thy mighty arm.
11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine;
the world and all that is in it, thou hast founded them.
12 The north and the south, thou hast created them;
Tabor and Hermon joyously praise thy name.
13 Thou hast a mighty arm;
strong is thy hand, high thy right hand.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before thee.
15 Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance,
16 who exult in thy name all the day,
and extol[d] thy righteousness.
17 For thou art the glory of their strength;
by thy favor our horn is exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
Reign of Manasseh
33 Manas′seh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places which his father Hezeki′ah had broken down, and erected altars to the Ba′als, and made Ashe′rahs, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 And he burned his sons as an offering in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and practiced soothsaying and augury and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 7 And the image of the idol which he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever; 8 and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land which I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.” 9 Manas′seh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.
Manasseh Restored after Repentance
10 The Lord spoke to Manas′seh and to his people, but they gave no heed. 11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manas′seh with hooks and bound him with fetters of bronze and brought him to Babylon. 12 And when he was in distress he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 He prayed to him, and God received his entreaty and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manas′seh knew that the Lord was God.
14 Afterwards he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it round Ophel, and raised it to a very great height; he also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. 15 And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. 16 He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered upon it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving; and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord the God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.
The Meaning of Faith
11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old received divine approval. 3 By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.
The Examples of Abel, Enoch, and Noah
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts; he died, but through his faith he is still speaking. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was attested as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.