Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

For the director of music. A song. A psalm.

Manasseh King of Judah

21 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 55 years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. ² Manasseh did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. He followed the practices of the nations. The Lord hated those practices. He had driven those nations out to make room for the Israelites. ³ Manasseh rebuilt the high places. His father Hezekiah had destroyed them. Manasseh also set up altars to the god named Baal. He made a pole used to worship the female god named Asherah. Ahab, the king of Israel, had done those same things. Manasseh even bowed down to all the stars. And he worshiped them. ⁴ He built altars in the Lord’s temple. The Lord had said about his temple, “I will put my Name there in Jerusalem.” ⁵ In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple Manasseh built altars to honor all the stars. ⁶ He sacrificed his own son in the fire to another god. He practiced all kinds of evil magic. He got messages from those who had died. He talked to the spirits of the dead. He did many things that were evil in the eyes of the Lord. Manasseh made the Lord very angry.

⁷ Manasseh had carved a pole used to worship the female god named Asherah. He put it in the temple. The Lord had spoken to David and his son Solomon about the temple. He had said, “My Name will be in this temple and in Jerusalem forever. Out of all the cities in the tribes of Israel I have chosen Jerusalem. ⁸ I gave this land to your people who lived long ago. I will not make the Israelites wander away from it again. But they must be careful to do everything I commanded them. They must obey the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them.” ⁹ But the people didn’t pay any attention. Manasseh led them astray. They did more evil things than the nations the Lord had destroyed. He had destroyed them to make room for the Israelites.

¹⁰ The Lord spoke through his servants the prophets. He said, ¹¹ “Manasseh, the king of Judah, has committed terrible sins. I hate them. Manasseh has done more evil things than the Amorites who were in the land before him. And he has led Judah to commit sin by worshiping his statues of gods. ¹² I am the Lord, the God of Israel. I tell you, ‘I am going to bring trouble on Jerusalem and Judah. It will be so horrible that the ears of everyone who hears about it will tingle. ¹³ I will measure out punishment against Jerusalem, just as I did against Samaria. I used a plumb line against the royal family of Ahab. I used it to prove that they did not measure up to my standards. I will use the same plumb line against Jerusalem. I will wipe out Jerusalem, just as someone wipes a dish. I will wipe it and turn it upside down. ¹⁴ I will desert those who remain among my people. I will hand them over to their enemies. All their enemies will rob them. ¹⁵ That’s because my people have done what is evil in my sight. They have made me very angry. They have done that from the day their own people came out of Egypt until this day.’ ”

¹⁴ We know that the law is holy. But I am not. I have been sold to be a slave of sin. ¹⁵ I don’t understand what I do. I don’t do what I want to do. Instead, I do what I hate to do. ¹⁶ I do what I don’t want to do. So I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, I am no longer the one who does these things. It is sin living in me that does them. ¹⁸ I know there is nothing good in my desires controlled by sin. I want to do what is good, but I can’t. ¹⁹ I don’t do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don’t want to do. ²⁰ I do what I don’t want to do. But I am not really the one who is doing it. It is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ Here is the law I find working in me. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² Deep inside me I find joy in God’s law. ²³ But I see another law working in me. It fights against the law of my mind. It makes me a prisoner of the law of sin. That law controls me. ²⁴ What a terrible failure I am! Who will save me from this sin that brings death to my body? ²⁵ I give thanks to God who saves me. He saves me through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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