Meditate

33. Manasseh King of Judah

Reign of Manasseh

33

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.³For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had pulled down, and erected altars to the Baals, made sacred poles, worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them.⁴He built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.”⁵He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.⁶He made his son pass through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, practiced soothsaying and augury and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.⁷The carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever;⁸I will never again remove the feet of Israel from the land that I appointed for your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.”⁹Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh Restored after Repentance

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they gave no heed.¹¹Therefore the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh captive in manacles, bound him with fetters, and brought him to Babylon.¹²While he was in distress he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors.¹³He prayed to him, and God received his entreaty, heard his plea, and restored him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord indeed was God.

¹⁴ Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, reaching the entrance at the Fish Gate; he carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.¹⁵He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them out of the city.¹⁶He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of well-being and of thanksgiving; and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord the God of Israel.¹⁷The people, however, still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

Death of Manasseh

¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, these are in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.¹⁹His prayer, and how God received his entreaty, all his sin and his faithlessness, the sites on which he built high places and set up the sacred poles and the images, before he humbled himself, these are written in the records of the seers.²⁰So Manasseh slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in his house. His son Amon succeeded him.

Amon’s Reign and Death

²¹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; he reigned two years in Jerusalem.²²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images that his father Manasseh had made, and served them.²³He did not humble himself before the Lord, as his father Manasseh had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred more and more guilt.²⁴His servants conspired against him and killed him in his house.²⁵But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon; and the people of the land made his son Josiah king to succeed him.

7. Melchizedek the Priest

²³ Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office;²⁴but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.²⁵Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

²⁶ For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.²⁷Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself.²⁸For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

47. Psalm 47

Psalm 47

God’s Rule over the Nations

To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.

1

Clap your hands, all you peoples;

shout to God with loud songs of joy.

2

For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome,

a great king over all the earth.

3

He subdued peoples under us,

and nations under our feet.

4

He chose our heritage for us,

the pride of Jacob whom he loves.Selah

5

God has gone up with a shout,

the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

6

Sing praises to God, sing praises;

sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7

For God is the king of all the earth;

sing praises with a psalm.

8

God is king over the nations;

God sits on his holy throne.

9

The princes of the peoples gather

as the people of the God of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth belong to God;

he is highly exalted.