Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 89
A maskil[a] of Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing of the Lord’s loyal love forever.
I will proclaim your faithfulness
with my own mouth
from one generation to the next.
2 That’s why I say,
“Your[b] loyal love is rightly built—forever!
You establish your faithfulness in heaven.”
3 You said,[c] “I made a covenant with my chosen one;
I promised my servant David:
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever;
I will build up your throne from one generation to the next.’” Selah
5 Heaven thanks you for your wondrous acts, Lord—
for your faithfulness too—
in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 Is there any in the sky who could compare to the Lord?
Who among the gods is equal to the Lord?
7 God is respected in the council of the holy ones;
God is awesome and revered more than all those around him.
8 Who is like you, Lord God of heavenly forces?
Mighty Lord, your faithfulness surrounds you!
9 You rule over the surging sea:
When its waves rise up,
it’s you who makes them still.
10 It’s you who crushed Rahab like a dead body;
you scattered your enemies with your strong arm.
11 Heaven is yours! The earth too!
The world and all that fills it—
you made all of it! North and south—you created them!
12 The mountains Tabor and Hermon
shout praises to your name.
13 You have a powerful arm;
your hand is strong;
your strong hand is raised high!
14 Your throne is built on righteousness and justice;
loyal love and faithfulness stand in front of you.
15 The people who know the celebratory shout are truly happy!
They walk in the light of your presence, Lord!
16 They rejoice in your name all day long
and are uplifted by your righteousness
17 because you are the splendor of their strength.
By your favor you make us strong
18 because our shield is the Lord’s own;
our king belongs to the holy one of Israel!
Manasseh rules
33 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king, and he ruled for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 He did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the shrines that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, set up altars for the Baals, and made sacred poles.[a] He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshipped them. 4 He even built altars in the Lord’s temple, the very place the Lord was speaking about when he said, “My name will remain in Jerusalem forever.” 5 Manasseh built altars for all the stars in the sky in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple. 6 He burned his own sons alive in the Ben-hinnom Valley, consulted sign readers, fortune-tellers, and sorcerers, and used mediums and diviners. He did much evil in the Lord’s eyes and made him angry.
7 Manasseh set up the carved image he had made in God’s temple, the very temple God had spoken about to David and his son Solomon, saying: In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have selected out of all Israel’s tribes, I will put my name forever. 8 I will never again remove Israel from the fertile land I gave to your ancestors, provided they carefully do everything I have commanded them—keeping all the Instruction, the regulations, and the case laws given through Moses. 9 In this way Manasseh led Judah and the residents of Jerusalem into doing even more evil than the nations that the Lord had wiped out before the Israelites.
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they wouldn’t listen. 11 So the Lord brought the army commanders of Assyria’s king against them. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon. 12 During his distress, Manasseh made peace with the Lord his God, truly submitting himself to the God of his ancestors. 13 He prayed, and God was moved by his request. God listened to Manasseh’s prayer and restored him to his rule in Jerusalem. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was the true God.
14 After this, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of David’s City, west of the Gihon Spring in the valley, extending as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate, enclosing the elevated fortress[b] and greatly increasing its height. He also installed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15 He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the Lord’s temple, as well as all the altars he had built on the hill of the Lord’s temple and in Jerusalem, dumping them outside the city. 16 He restored the Lord’s altar, offered well-being sacrifices and thank offerings on it, and ordered the people of Judah to worship the Lord, Israel’s God. 17 The people, however, still sacrificed at the shrines, but only to the Lord their God.
Description of faith
11 Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see. 2 The elders in the past were approved because they showed faith.
Acts of faith by God’s people
3 By faith we understand that the universe has been created by a word from God so that the visible came into existence from the invisible.
4 By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice to God than Cain, which showed that he was righteous, since God gave approval to him for his gift. Though he died, he’s still speaking through faith.
5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he didn’t see death, and he wasn’t found because God took him up.[a] He was given approval for having pleased God before he was taken up. 6 It’s impossible to please God without faith because the one who draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards people who try to find him.
7 By faith Noah responded with godly fear when he was warned about events he hadn’t seen yet. He built an ark to deliver his household. With his faith, he criticized the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes from faith.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible