Manasseh Son of Hezekiah, King of Judah

21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.

² He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the disgusting practices of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel. ³ He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, just as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to the whole army of the heavens,^[a] and he served them. ⁴ He built altars in the House of the Lord, about which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my name.” ⁵ He built altars to all the army of the heavens in the two courtyards of the House of the Lord.

⁶ He made his son pass through the fire. He practiced fortune telling and sought omens and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He greatly increased the evil he did in the eyes of the Lord and provoked him to anger.

⁷ He put an image of Asherah, which he had made, into the house about which the Lord said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. ⁸ I will not make the feet of Israel wander again from the land which I gave to their fathers, if they will just be careful to do whatever I commanded them and to observe the whole law which my servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹ But they did not listen. Manasseh led them astray so that they did more evil than the nations whom the Lord exterminated before the people of Israel.

God’s Judgment on Manasseh

¹⁰ Then the Lord said through his prophets:

Psalm 118

The Stone the Builders Rejected

Introduction

Trust During Distress

The Messiah’s Joy in Victory

The Joy in Victory of Messiah’s Followers

Conclusion

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

³³ “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. He leased it out to some tenant farmers and went away on a journey. ³⁴ When the time approached to harvest the fruit, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. ³⁵ The tenant farmers seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Then the landowner sent even more servants than the first time. The tenant farmers treated them the same way. ³⁷ Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. ³⁸ But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance!’ ³⁹ They took him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ So when the landowner comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”

⁴¹ They told him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end. Then he will lease out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his fruit when it is due.”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

⁴³ “That is why I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces its fruit.

¹⁷ Brothers, join together in imitating me and in paying attention to those who are walking according to the pattern we gave you. ¹⁸ To be sure, many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. I told you about them often, and now I am saying it while weeping. ¹⁹ Their end is destruction, their god is their appetite,^[a] and their glory is in their shame. They are thinking only about earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. We are eagerly waiting for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. ²¹ By the power that enables him to subject all things to himself, he will transform our humble bodies to be like his glorious body.