2 Kings 21, Hebrews 3, Hosea 14, Psalm 139

2 Kings 21,

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother's name was Hephzibah.
 
2 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
 
3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them.
 
4 He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem I will put my Name."
 
5 In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts.
 
6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
 
7 He took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.
 
8 I will not again make the feet of the Israelites wander from the land I gave their forefathers, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them and will keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them."
 
9 But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
 
10 The LORD said through his servants the prophets:
 
11 "Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols.
 
12 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
 
13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.
 
14 I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their foes,
 
15 because they have done evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of Egypt until this day."
 
16 Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end-besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the LORD.
 
17 As for the other events of Manasseh's reign, and all he did, including the sin he committed, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
 
18 Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.
 
19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His mother's name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah.
 
20 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done.
 
21 He walked in all the ways of his father; he worshiped the idols his father had worshiped, and bowed down to them.
 
22 He forsook the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.
 
23 Amon's officials conspired against him and assassinated the king in his palace.
 
24 Then the people of the land killed all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in his place.
 
25 As for the other events of Amon's reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
 
26 He was buried in his grave in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah his son succeeded him as king.
 

Hebrews 3,

1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
 
2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house.
 
3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
 
4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
 
5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future.
 
6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
 
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice,
 
8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,
 
9 where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did.
 
10 That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.'
 
11 So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' "
 
12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
 
13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
 
14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
 
15 As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."
 
16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?
 
17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?
 
18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?
 
19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
 

Hosea 14,

1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall!
 
2 Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: "Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
 
3 Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount war-horses. We will never again say 'Our gods' to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion."
 
4 "I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.
 
5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots;
 
6 his young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.
 
7 Men will dwell again in his shade. He will flourish like the grain. He will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.
 
8 O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols? I will answer him and care for him. I am like a green pine tree; your fruitfulness comes from me."
 
9 Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.
 

Psalm 139

1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
 
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
 
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
 
4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
 
5 You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
 
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
 
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
 
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
 
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
 
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
 
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
 
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
 
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
 
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
 
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
 
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
 
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
 
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
 
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
 
20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
 
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?
 
22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
 
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
 
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.