Aug 7th

And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh dispossessed before the sons of Israel.

Indeed, he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had torn down; and he erected altars for the Baals and made Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

And he built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh had said, “In Jerusalem My name shall be forever.”

Indeed, he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.

He even made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced soothsaying, interpreted omens, practiced sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much that was evil in the sight of Yahweh, provoking Him to anger.

Then he put the graven image of the idol, which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever.

And I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have set up for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them according to all the law, the statutes and the judgments given by the hand of Moses.”

Thus Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray in order to do more evil than the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Then Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.

Therefore Yahweh brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon.

And when he was in distress, he entreated Yahweh his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

Then he prayed to Him, and He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and returned him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God.

Afterwards, he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the Fish Gate; and he encircled the Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of Yahweh, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of Yahweh and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.

And he set up the altar of Yahweh and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he said for Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel.

Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, although only to Yahweh their God.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, even his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, behold, they are among the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

His prayer also and how God was entreated by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the chronicles of the Hozai.

And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And Amon his son became king in his place.

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had done, and Amon sacrificed to all the graven images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them.

Moreover, he did not humble himself before Yahweh as his father Manasseh had humbled himself, but Amon multiplied guilt.

Then his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house.

Then 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.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

And he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Now in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the graven images, and the molten images.

And they tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars that were high above them he cut in pieces; also the Asherim, the graven images, and the molten images he broke in pieces and ground to powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

Then he burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, even as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding ruins,

he also tore down the altars and beat the Asherim and the graven images into powder, and cut in pieces all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah an official of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God.

And they came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the doorkeepers, had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Then they gave it into the hand of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of Yahweh; and those who did the work, who were doing this in the house of Yahweh, used it to restore and repair the house.

They in turn gave it to the craftsmen and to the builders to buy hewn stone and timber for clamps and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had let go to ruin.

And the men did the work faithfully with foremen over them to direct: Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites of the sons of Merari, Zechariah and Meshullam of the sons of the Kohathites, and the Levites, all who were skillful with musical instruments.

They were also over those who carried loads, and directed all those who did the work from service to service; and some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers.

When they were taking out the money which had been brought into the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Yahweh given by the hand of Moses.

So Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in the house of Yahweh.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.

Then Shaphan brought the book to the king and furthermore responded to the king with a word, saying, “Everything that was given to the hand of your servants they are doing.

They have also poured out the money that was found in the house of Yahweh, and have given it into the hand of the supervisors and those who did the work.”

Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, “Hilkiah the priest gave me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.

Now it happened that when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.

Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying,

“Go, inquire of Yahweh for me and those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book which has been found, for great is the wrath of Yahweh which is poured out against us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Yahweh, to do according to all that is written in this book.”

So Hilkiah and those whom the king had told went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her regarding this.

And she said to them, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Say to the man who sent you to Me,

thus says Yahweh, “Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the curses written in the book which they have read in the presence of the king of Judah.

Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, therefore My wrath will be poured out against this place, and it shall not be quenched.” ’

But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “Regarding the words which you have heard,

because your heart was soft and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares Yahweh.

“Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace, so your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place and on its inhabitants.” ’ ” So they brought back word to the king.

Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

And the king went up to the house of Yahweh and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and the Levites and all the people, from the greatest to the least; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of Yahweh.

Then the king stood in his place and cut a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to do the words of the covenant that were written in this book.

Moreover, he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand with him. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel to serve Yahweh their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn away from following Yahweh, the God of their fathers.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.

For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how without ceasing I make mention of you,

always in my prayers earnestly asking, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.

For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be strengthened;

that is, to be mutually encouraged, while among you, by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

In this way, for my part, I am eager to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous will live by faith.”

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools,

and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions; for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,

and in the same way also the males abandoned the natural function of the female and burned in their desire toward one another, males with males committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper,

having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,

slanderers, haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;

and although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.