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Judah’s King Manasseh

¹ Manasseh^(C1) was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.^{(C2) 2} He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,^(C1) imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.^{(C2) 3} He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed^(C1) and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah,^(C2) as King Ahab of Israel had done;^(C3) he also bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky^(C4) and served them. ⁴ He built altars in the Lord’s temple,^(C1) where the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where I will put my name.”^{(C2) 5} He built altars to all the stars in the sky^(C1) in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple.^{(C2) 6} He sacrificed his son in the fire,^(F1)(C1) practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists.^(C2) He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him.^(C3)

⁷ Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.^{(C1) 8} I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land I gave to their ancestors if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole law that my servant Moses commanded them.”^{(C1) 9} But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.^(C1)

¹⁰ The Lord said through his servants the prophets, ¹¹ “Since King Manasseh of Judah has committed all these detestable acts^(C1)—worse evil than the Amorites^(C2) who preceded him had done—and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin, ¹² this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.^{(F1)(C1) 13} I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason’s level used on the house of Ahab,^(C1) and I will wipe^(C2) Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ I will abandon the remnant^(C1) of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have angered me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.’”^(C1)

¹⁶ Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another.^(C1) This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.

Manasseh’s Death

¹⁷ The rest^(C1) of the events of Manasseh’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.^{(C2) 18} Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon became king in his place.

Judah’s King Amon

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king,^(C1) and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. ²⁰ He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father Manasseh had done.^{(C1) 21} He walked in all the ways his father had walked; he served the idols his father had served, and he bowed in worship to them.^{(C1) 22} He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors^(C1) and did not walk in the ways of the Lord.^(C2)

²³ Amon’s servants conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house.^{(C1) 24} The common people^(F1) killed^(C1) all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah^(C2) king in his place.

²⁵ The rest of the events of Amon’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. ²⁶ He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.