Manasseh Reigns in Judah
1 xManasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yaccording to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places zthat Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made aan Asherah, bas Ahab king of Israel had done, cand worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 dAnd he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, e“In Jerusalem will I put my name.” 5 And he built altars cfor all the host of heaven in fthe two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 gAnd he burned his son as an offering1 and hused fortune-telling and iomens and dealt jwith mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 7 And the carved image of aAsherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, eand in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. 8 kAnd I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.
Manasseh’s Idolatry Denounced
10 And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, 11 l“Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things mmore evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, nand has made Judah also to sin owith his idols, 12 therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster2 that the ears of everyone who hears of it pwill tingle. 13 qAnd I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”
16 rMoreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin sthat he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
17 tNow the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 18 uAnd Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, vin the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.
Amon Reigns in Judah
19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, was Manasseh his father had done. 21 He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served xthe idols that his father served and worshiped them. 22 yHe abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. 23 And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house. 24 But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place. 25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 26 And he was buried in his tomb zin the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.
Jesus Greater Than Moses
1 Therefore, holy brothers,1 you who share in ra heavenly calling, consider Jesus, sthe apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, tjust as Moses also was faithful in all God’s2 house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but uthe builder of all things is God.) 5 vNow Moses was faithful in all God’s house was a servant, xto testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as ya son. And zwe are his house, if indeed we ahold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.3
A Rest for the People of God
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
b“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for cforty years.
10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
11 dAs I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from ethe living God. 13 But fexhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by gthe deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, hif indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,
b“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For iwho were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not jall those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, kwhose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that lthey would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that mthey were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, you have psearched me and known me!
2 You qknow when I sit down and when I rise up;
you rdiscern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, syou know it altogether.
5 You them me in, behind and before,
and ulay your hand upon me.
6 vSuch knowledge is wtoo wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 xWhere shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where yshall I flee from your presence?
8 zIf I ascend to heaven, you are there!
aIf I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall blead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, c“Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 deven the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you eformed my inward parts;
you fknitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.1
gWonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 hMy frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in ithe depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your jbook were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your kthoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 lIf I would count them, they are more than mthe sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would nslay the wicked, O God!
O omen of blood, pdepart from me!
20 They qspeak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies rtake your name in vain.2
21 sDo I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not tloathe those who urise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
vTry me and know my thoughts!3
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
A Plea to Return to the Lord
1 nReturn, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for oyou have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take with you words
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
“Take away all iniquity;
accept pwhat is good,
and we will pay with bulls
3 rAssyria shall not save us;
swe will not ride on horses;
and twe will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
uIn you the orphan finds mercy.”
4 I vwill heal their apostasy;
wI will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.
5 xI will be like the dew to Israel;
yhe shall blossom like the lily;
he shall take root like the trees zof Lebanon;
6 his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be alike the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon.
7 They shall return and bdwell beneath my2 shadow;
they shall flourish like the grain;
they shall blossom like the vine;
their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O cEphraim, what have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.3
I am like an evergreen cypress;
dfrom me comes your fruit.
9 eWhoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
and fthe upright walk in them,
fbut transgressors stumble in them.
