Great Grace for the Very Worst

2 Chronicles 33
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. ² He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, following the detestable practices of the pagan nations that the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites. ³ He rebuilt the pagan shrines his father, Hezekiah, had broken down. He constructed altars for the images of Baal and set up Asherah poles. He also bowed before all the powers of the heavens and worshiped them.

⁴ He built pagan altars in the Temple of the Lord, the place where the Lord had said, “My name will remain in Jerusalem forever.” ⁵ He built these altars for all the powers of the heavens in both courtyards of the Lord’s Temple. ⁶ Manasseh also sacrificed his own sons in the fire[a] in the valley of Ben-Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. He did much that was evil in the Lord’s sight, arousing his anger.

⁷ Manasseh even took a carved idol he had made and set it up in God’s Temple, the very place where God had told David and his son Solomon: “My name will be honored forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem—the city I have chosen from among all the tribes of Israel.

⁸ If the Israelites will be careful to obey my commands—all the laws, decrees, and regulations given through Moses—I will not send them into exile from this land that I set aside for your ancestors.” ⁹ But Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do even more evil than the pagan nations that the Lord had destroyed when the people of Israel entered the land.

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they ignored all his warnings.

¹¹ So the Lord sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner. They put a ring through his nose, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon. ¹² But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the Lord his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. ¹³ And when he prayed, the Lord listened to him and was moved by his request. So the Lord brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh finally realized that the Lord alone is God!

Prayer of Manasseh
(Apocryphal, included by Martin Luther in his 74 book translation of the Bible into German. Not in our Bibles)
¹ Lord Almighty, God of our ancestors, God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their righteous children,
² you made heaven and earth with all their beauty.
³ You set limits for the sea by speaking your command.
You closed the bottomless pit, and sealed it by your powerful and glorious name.
⁴ All things fear you and tremble in your presence,
⁵ because no one can endure the brightness of your glory.
No one can resist the fury of your threat against sinners.

⁶ But your promised mercies are beyond measure and imagination,
⁷ abecause you are the highest, Lord, kind, patient, and merciful,
and you feel sorry over human troubles.

Syriac
You, Lord, according to your gentle grace, promised forgiveness to those
who are sorry for their sins.
In your great mercy, you allowed sinners to turn from their sins and find salvation.
⁸ Therefore, Lord, God of those who do what is right,
you didn’t offer Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
who didn’t sin against you, a chance to change their hearts and lives.
But you offer me, the sinner, the chance to change my heart and life,
⁹ abecause my sins outnumbered the grains of sand by the sea.
My sins are many, Lord; they are many.
I am not worthy to look up, to gaze into heaven because of my many sins.
Now, Lord, I suffer justly. I deserve the troubles I encounter.
Already I’m caught in a trap.
¹⁰ I’m held down by iron chains so that I can’t lift up my head because of my sins.
There’s no relief for me, because I made you angry, doing wrong in front of your face,
setting up false gods and committing offenses.

¹¹ Now I bow down before you from deep within my heart, begging for your kindness.
¹² I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned, and I know the laws I’ve broken.
¹³ I’m praying, begging you: Forgive me, Lord, forgive me.
Don’t destroy me along with my sins. Don’t keep my bad deeds in your memory forever.
Don’t sentence me to the earth’s depths, for you, Lord, are the God
of those who turn from their sins.
¹⁴ In me you’ll show how kind you are.
Although I’m not worthy, you’ll save me according to your great mercy.
¹⁵ I will praise you continuously all the days of my life,
because all of heaven’s forces praise you, and the glory is yours
forever and always. Amen.

¹⁴ After this Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, from west of the Gihon Spring in the Kidron Valley to the Fish Gate, and continuing around the hill of Ophel. He built the wall very high. And he stationed his military officers in all of the fortified towns of Judah.

¹⁵ Manasseh also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the Lord’s Temple. He tore down all the altars he had built on the hill where the Temple stood and all the altars that were in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city. ¹⁶ Then he restored the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings on it. He also encouraged the people of Judah to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁷ However, the people still sacrificed at the pagan shrines, though only to the Lord their God.

¹⁸ The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, his prayer to God, and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁹ Manasseh’s prayer, the account of the way God answered him, and an account of all his sins and unfaithfulness are recorded in The Record of the Seers. It includes a list of the locations where he built pagan shrines and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself and repented. ²⁰ When Manasseh died, he was buried in his palace. Then his son Amon became the next king.

Amon Rules in Judah
²¹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. ²² He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father, Manasseh, had done. He worshiped and sacrificed to all the idols his father had made. ²³ But unlike his father, he did not humble himself before the Lord. Instead, Amon sinned even more.

²⁴ Then Amon’s own officials conspired against him and assassinated him in his palace. ²⁵ But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah the next king.

Ephesians 4:17-32
Living as Children of Light
¹⁷ With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. ¹⁸ Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. ¹⁹ They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

²⁰ But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. ²¹ Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, ²² throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. ²³ Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.
²⁴ Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

²⁵ So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. ²⁶ And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.”[a] Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

²⁸ If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. ²⁹ Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

³⁰ And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.

³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. ³² Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.