Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 89
Perplexity about God’s Promises
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.(A)
1 I will sing about the Lord’s faithful love forever;(B)
I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations
with my mouth.(C)
2 For I will declare,
“Faithful love is built up forever;
you establish your faithfulness in the heavens.”(D)
3 The Lord said,
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever
and build up your throne for all generations.’”(E)Selah
5 Lord, the heavens praise your wonders(F)—
your faithfulness also—
in the assembly of the holy ones.(G)
6 For who in the skies can compare with the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings[a] is like the Lord?(H)
7 God is greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,
more awe-inspiring than[b] all who surround him.(I)
8 Lord God of Armies,
who is strong like you, Lord?(J)
Your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule the raging sea;
when its waves surge, you still them.(K)
10 You crushed Rahab like one who is slain;(L)
you scattered your enemies with your powerful arm.(M)
11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours.
The world and everything in it—you founded them.(N)
12 North and south—you created them.(O)
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at your name.(P)
13 You have a mighty arm;
your hand is powerful;
your right hand is lifted high.(Q)
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation
of your throne;(R)
faithful love and truth go before you.(S)
15 Happy are the people who know the joyful shout;(T)
Lord, they walk in the light from your face.(U)
16 They rejoice in your name all day long,
and they are exalted by your righteousness.(V)
17 For you are their magnificent strength;(W)
by your favor our horn is exalted.(X)
18 Surely our shield[c] belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.(Y)
Judah’s King Manasseh
33 Manasseh was twelve years old(A) when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.(B) 3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down(C) and reestablished the altars for the Baals. He made Asherah poles, and he bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served them. 4 He built altars(D) in the Lord’s temple, where the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where my name will remain forever.”(E) 5 He built altars to all the stars in the sky in both courtyards(F) of the Lord’s temple. 6 He passed his sons through the fire in Ben Hinnom Valley.(G) He practiced witchcraft, divination, and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists.(H) He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him.
7 Manasseh(I) set up a carved image of the idol, which he had made, in God’s temple(J) that God had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever[a](K) in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.(L) 8 I will never again remove the feet of the Israelites from the land where I stationed your[b](M) ancestors,(N) if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them through Moses—all the law, statutes, and judgments.” 9 So Manasseh caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.
Manasseh’s Repentance
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they didn’t listen.(O) 11 So he brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.(P) 12 When he was in distress, he sought the favor of the Lord his God and earnestly humbled himself(Q) before the God of his ancestors. 13 He prayed to him, and the Lord was receptive to his prayer. He granted his request(R) and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. So Manasseh came to know that the Lord is God.(S)
14 After this, he built the outer wall of the city of David from west of Gihon(T) in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate;(U) he brought it around Ophel,(V) and he heightened it considerably. He also placed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.
15 He removed the foreign gods and the idol(W) from the Lord’s temple, along with all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the Lord’s temple and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. 16 He built[c] the altar of the Lord and offered fellowship and thanksgiving sacrifices on it. Then he told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. 17 However, the people still sacrificed at the high places,(X) but only to the Lord their God.
Living by Faith
11 Now faith is the reality[a] of what is hoped for, the proof[b] of what is not seen.(A) 2 For by this our ancestors were approved.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was[c] created by the word of God,(B) so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.[d]
4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.(C)
5 By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away.[e] For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God.(D) 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
7 By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.(E)
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