Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

¹ ¶ I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

² For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens; in them thou shalt establish thy truth.

³ I have made a covenant with my chosen; I have sworn unto David my slave, saying,

⁴ Thy seed will I establish for ever and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

⁵ ¶ And the heavens shall praise thy wonder, O LORD, thy truth also in the congregation of the saints.

⁶ For who in the heavens can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?

⁷ God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all those that are about him.

⁸ O LORD God of the hosts, who is like unto thee? Strong JAH, compassed about with thy truth.

⁹ Thou dost rule the raging of the sea: when its waves arise, thou dost still them.

¹⁰ Thou hast broken Egypt in pieces as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

¹¹ The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: the world and its fullness, thou didst found.

¹² Thou hast created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon shall sing in thy name.

¹³ The mighty arm is thine; strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

¹⁴ Thy throne is composed of righteousness and judgment; mercy and truth go before thy face.

¹⁵ ¶ Happy are the people that know how to enter into joy; they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

¹⁶ In thy name shall they rejoice each day; and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

¹⁷ For thou art the glory of their strength, and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.

¹⁸ For the LORD is our shield, and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

33 ¶ Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

² And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the Gentiles, whom the LORD had cast out before the sons of Israel.

³ For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah, his father, had broken down, and he raised up altars for the Baalim and made groves and worshipped all the host of the heavens and served them.

⁴ He also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.

⁵ He likewise built altars for all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of the LORD.

⁶ And he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the sons of Hinnom; he also observed times, used enchantments, and was given over to witchcraft, consulting with spiritists and with diviners; he multiplied in doing much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

⁷ In addition to this, he set a graven image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen over all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever;

⁸ neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers under the condition that they take, keep, and do all that I have commanded them, the whole law, the statutes and the rights by the hand of Moses.

⁹ So Manasseh deceived Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to do more evil than the Gentiles, whom the LORD had destroyed before the sons of Israel.

¹⁰ And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken.

¹¹ ¶ Therefore, the LORD brought upon them the princes of the host of the king of Assyria who took Manasseh and bound him with fetters of brass and carried him to Babylon.

¹² And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,

¹³ and when he prayed unto him, he was heard; for he heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

¹⁴ Now after this he built the wall outside the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, and at the entrance of the fish gate, and fenced Ophel and raised it up to a very great height and put captains of the army in all the fenced cities of Judah.

¹⁵ Likewise, he took away the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the LORD and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem and cast them out of the city.

¹⁶ And he repaired the altar of the LORD and sacrificed upon it sacrifices of peace and of praise and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.

¹⁷ Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only.

11 ¶ Faith, therefore, is the substance of things waited for, the evidence of things not seen.

² For by it the elders obtained a good report.

³ Through faith we understand that the ages were framed by the word of God, that which is seen being made of that which was not seen.

⁴ ¶ By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaks.

⁵ By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found because God had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

⁶ But without faith it is impossible to please God; for he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him.

⁷ By faith Noah, having received revelation of things not seen as yet, with great care prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world and was made heir of the righteousness which is by faith.