Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

This psalm is a song for the music leader.

Praise God!^[a]

Manasseh becomes the king of Judah

21 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for 55 years. His mother's name was Hephzibah. ² Manasseh did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same terrible sins that the other nations in Canaan had done. Those were the nations that the Lord had chased out so that the Israelites could live there. ³ Manasseh built again the altars on the hills that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He built altars for people to worship Baal. He also made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done. He bent down low to worship all the stars in the sky. ⁴ He built altars in the Lord's temple.^[a] The Lord had said about his temple, ‘That is my home in Jerusalem where people will worship me.’

⁵ Manasseh built altars to give honour to the stars, in both yards of the Lord's temple. ⁶ He burnt his own son with fire as a sacrifice. He used magic and false gods to find out what would happen in the future. He took advice from magicians and people who talked to the spirits of dead people. He did many things that the Lord said were very evil. This made the Lord very angry.

⁷ Manasseh used wood to make an image of the false god, Asherah. He put this idol in the Lord's temple. The Lord had said this about his temple to King David and to his son King Solomon: ‘My people will worship me in my temple here in Jerusalem. That is the place that I have chosen to be my home for ever. I have chosen it from among all the tribes of Israel. ⁸ I will never cause the Israelite people to leave this land that I gave to their ancestors. But they must be careful to obey all my commands and all my Law that my servant Moses gave to them.’

⁹ But the people did not obey the Lord. Manasseh caused them to turn away from God. The Israelites did more evil things than the people who lived in Canaan before them. The Lord had destroyed those nations so that the Israelites could live there.

¹⁰ So the Lord used his servants, the prophets, to say this: ¹¹ ‘Manasseh, the king of Judah, has done terrible sins. He has done more evil things than the Amorites did, who lived in Canaan before him. He has caused the people of Judah to do wrong things as they worship his idols. ¹² So the Lord, Israel's God, says this: “I will cause great trouble to happen in Jerusalem and in all the kingdom of Judah. Everyone who hears the news about it will be very surprised. ¹³ I will judge Jerusalem and I will punish the people, as I punished Samaria and the family of King Ahab.^[b] I will remove the people from Jerusalem, like someone who washes the dirt from both sides of a plate.

¹⁴ I will no longer help those of my own people who still remain. I will put them under the power of their enemies. All their enemies will rob them. They will take all their valuable things for themselves. ¹⁵ My people have done things that I say are evil. They have made me very angry. They have continued to do that since their ancestors came out from Egypt, until today.” ’

The power of sin in our lives

¹⁴ We understand that God's Law is spiritual. But I am weak and human. I am like a slave that has sin as my master. ¹⁵ I do not understand the things that I do. I do not do the good things that I want to do. Instead, I do the things that I hate to do. ¹⁶ But I do not want to do those wrong things. So I am agreeing that God's Law is good. ¹⁷ So it is not really I myself who am doing those wrong things. Instead, sin has power in my life. It is sin that causes me to do wrong things.

¹⁸ I know that there is nothing good in me. I am weak and human. I want to do what is good. But I am unable to do it. ¹⁹ I do not do the good things that I want to do. Instead, I continue to do the bad things that I do not want to do. ²⁰ So, when I do bad things that I do not want to do, it is not really I myself who do them. It is sin that causes me to do wrong things, because it has power in my life.

²¹ So I understand what is happening in me. Whenever I want to do something good, I can only choose something bad. ²² Deep inside myself, I really love God's laws. ²³ So my mind tells me to obey God's laws. But my body wants to make me do something else. Every part of me fights against what my mind tells me to do. Sin has power over my body so that I am like a prisoner. ²⁴ This makes me very sad! My body is leading me to death. I need someone to make me free from the power of sin over my body. ²⁵ I thank God! He has made me free, because of what Jesus Christ has done.

So with my mind I want to obey God's laws. But, at the same time, I serve sin as my master, because I am weak and human.