2 Chron. 33:1–9

33:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2He did evil in the sight of the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out ahead of the Israelites. 3He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshiped them. 4He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my permanent home.” 5In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple, he built altars for all the stars in the sky. 6He passed his sons through the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it. He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him. 7He put an idolatrous image he had made in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home. 8I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given through Moses.” 9But Manasseh misled the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.

Ps. 107

107:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

and his loyal love endures.

2Let those delivered by the Lord speak out,

those whom he delivered from the power of the enemy

3and gathered from foreign lands,

from east and west,

from north and south.

4They wandered through the wilderness, in a wasteland;

they found no road to a city in which to live.

5They were hungry and thirsty;

they fainted from exhaustion.

6They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

7He led them on a level road

that they might find a city in which to live.

8Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love

and for the amazing things he has done for people.

9For he has satisfied those who thirst,

and those who hunger he has filled with food.

10They sat in utter darkness,

bound in painful iron chains

11because they had rebelled against God’s commands

and rejected the instructions of the Most High.

12So he used suffering to humble them;

they stumbled and no one helped them up.

13They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

14He brought them out of the utter darkness

and tore off their shackles.

15Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love

and for the amazing things he has done for people.

16For he shattered the bronze gates

and hacked through the iron bars.

17They acted like fools in their rebellious ways

and suffered because of their sins.

18They lost their appetite for all food,

and they drew near the gates of death.

19They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

20He sent them an assuring word and healed them;

he rescued them from the pits where they were trapped.

21Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love

and for the amazing things he has done for people.

22Let them present thank offerings,

and loudly proclaim what he has done.

23 Some traveled on the sea in ships

and carried cargo over the vast waters.

24They witnessed the acts of the Lord,

his amazing feats on the deep water.

25He gave the order for a windstorm,

and it stirred up the waves of the sea.

26They reached up to the sky,

then dropped into the depths.

The sailors’ strength left them because the danger was so great.

27They swayed and staggered like drunks,

and all their skill proved ineffective.

28They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

29He calmed the storm,

and the waves grew silent.

30The sailors rejoiced because the waves grew quiet,

and he led them to the harbor they desired.

31Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love

and for the amazing things he has done for people.

32Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people.

Let them praise him in the place where the leaders preside.

33He turned streams into a desert,

springs of water into arid land,

34and a fruitful land into a barren place,

because of the sin of its inhabitants.

35As for his people, he turned a desert into a pool of water

and a dry land into springs of water.

36He allowed the hungry to settle there,

and they established a city in which to live.

37They cultivated fields

and planted vineyards,

which yielded a harvest of fruit.

38He blessed them so that they became very numerous.

He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number.

39As for their enemies, they decreased in number and were beaten down,

because of painful distress and suffering.

40He would pour contempt upon princes,

and he made them wander in a wasteland with no road.

41Yet he protected the needy from oppression

and cared for his families like a flock of sheep.

42When the godly see this, they rejoice,

and every sinner shuts his mouth.

43Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things.

Let them consider the Lord’s acts of loyal love.

Luke 17:1–19

17:1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. 4Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

5The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6So the Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

7“Would any one of you say to your slave who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’? 8Won’t the master instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready to serve me while I eat and drink. Then you may eat and drink’? 9He won’t thank the slave because he did what he was told, will he? 10So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’”

11Now on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was entering a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance, 13raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14When he saw them he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went along, they were cleansed. 15Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He fell with his face to the ground at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. (Now he was a Samaritan.) 17Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19Then he said to the man, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well.”