Monday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. This is the message that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 2Verse 2. In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3Verse 3. And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4Verse 4. Then He will judge between the nations and arbitrate for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor train anymore for war.

1Verse 1. Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. 2Verse 2. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 3Verse 3. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down, and he raised up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. And he worshiped and served all the host of heaven. 4Verse 4. Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.” 5Verse 5. In both courtyards of the house of the LORD, he built altars to all the host of heaven. 6Verse 6. He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger. 7Verse 7. Manasseh even took the carved image he had made and set it up in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever. 8Verse 8. I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to leave the land that I assigned to your fathers, if only they are careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses— all the laws, statutes, and judgments.” 9Verse 9. So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites. 10Verse 10. And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not listen. 11Verse 11. So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. 12Verse 12. And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. 13Verse 13. And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition. So He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God. 14Verse 14. After this, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David from west of Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and he brought it around the hill of Ophel and heightened it considerably. He also stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15Verse 15. He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, along with all the altars he had built on the temple mount and in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city. 16Verse 16. Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and he told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. 17Verse 17. Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.