Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Praise God for Answering Prayers

For the director of music. A song of praise.

Manasseh King of Judah

21 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. And he was king 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. ² He did what the Lord said was wrong. He did the hated things the other nations had done. And the Lord had forced these nations out of the land ahead of the Israelites. ³ Manasseh’s father, Hezekiah, had destroyed the places where false gods were worshiped. But Manasseh rebuilt them. He built altars for Baal. And he made an Asherah idol as Ahab king of Israel had done. Manasseh worshiped all the stars of heaven and served them. ⁴ The Lord had said about the Temple, “I will be worshiped in Jerusalem.” But Manasseh built altars in the Temple of the Lord. ⁵ He built altars to worship the stars in the two courtyards of the Temple of the Lord. ⁶ He burned his own son as a sacrifice. He practiced magic and told the future by explaining signs and dreams. He got advice from mediums and fortune-tellers. He did many things that the Lord said were wrong. And this made the Lord angry.

⁷ Manasseh carved an Asherah idol and put it in the Temple. The Lord had spoken to David and his son Solomon about the Temple. He had said, “I will be worshiped in this Temple and in Jerusalem forever. I have chosen Jerusalem from all the tribes of Israel. ⁸ I will never again make the Israelites wander out of the land I gave their ancestors. But they must obey everything I have commanded them. And they must obey all the teachings my servant Moses gave them.” ⁹ But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them to do wrong. They did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.

¹⁰ The Lord spoke through his servants the prophets. He said, ¹¹ “Manasseh king of Judah has done these hated things. He has done more evil than the Amorites before him. Manasseh also has caused Judah to sin with his idols. ¹² So this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will bring much trouble on Jerusalem and Judah. Anyone who hears about it will be shocked. ¹³ I will stretch the measuring line of Samaria over Jerusalem. And the plumb line used against Ahab’s family will be used on Jerusalem. I will wipe out Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish. He wipes it and turns it upside down. ¹⁴ I will go away from the rest of my people who are left. I will give them to their enemies. They will be robbed by all their enemies. ¹⁵ My people did what I said was wrong. They have made me angry from the day their ancestors left Egypt until now.’”

The War Within Man

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual. But I am not spiritual. Sin rules me as if I were its slave. ¹⁵ I do not understand the things I do. I do not do the good things I want to do. And I do the bad things I hate to do. ¹⁶ And if I do not want to do the bad things I do, then that means that I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ But I am not really the one who is doing these bad things. It is sin living in me that does these things. ¹⁸ Yes, I know that nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good. But I do not do them. ¹⁹ I do not do the good things that I want to do. I do the bad things that I do not want to do. ²⁰ So if I do things I do not want to do, then I am not the one doing those things. It is sin living in me that does those bad things.

²¹ So I have learned this rule: When I want to do good, evil is there with me. ²² In my mind, I am happy with God’s law. ²³ But I see another law working in my body. That law makes war against the law that my mind accepts. That other law working in my body is the law of sin, and that law makes me its prisoner. ²⁴ What a miserable man I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death? ²⁵ God will. I thank him for saving me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So in my mind I am a slave to God’s law. But in my sinful self I am a slave to the law of sin.