Manasseh Reigns in Judah
1 Manassehwastwelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s namewasHephzibah.
2 And he did evil in the sight of theLord,according to the abominations of the nations whom theLordhad cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he rebuilt the high placeswhich Hezekiah his father had destroyed; he raised up altars for Baal, and made a wooden image,as Ahab king of Israel had done; and heworshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
4 He also built altars in the house of theLord, of which theLordhad said,“In Jerusalem I will put My name.”
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in thetwo courts of the house of theLord.
6 Also he made his son pass through the fire, practicedsoothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of theLord, to provokeHimto anger.
7 He even set a carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which theLordhad said to David and to Solomon his son,“In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever;
8 and I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers—only if they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.”
9 But they paid no attention, and Manassehseduced them to do more evil than the nations whom theLordhad destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And theLordspokeby His servants the prophets, saying,
11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations (he has acted more wickedly than all theAmorites whowerebefore him, andhas also made Judah sin with his idols),
12 therefore thus says theLordGod of Israel: ‘Behold,Iam bringingsuchcalamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, bothhis ears will tingle.
13 And I will stretch over Jerusalemthe measuring line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab;I will wipe Jerusalem asonewipes a dish, wipingitand turningitupside down.
14 So I will forsake theremnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies,
15 because they have done evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.’ ”
16 Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of theLord.
17 Nowthe rest of the acts ofManasseh—all that he did, and the sin that he committed—arethey not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
18 SoManasseh rested with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Amon reigned in his place.
Amon’s Reign and Death
19 Amonwastwenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s namewasMeshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
20 And he did evil in the sight of theLord,as his father Manasseh had done.
21 So he walked in all the ways that his father had walked; and he served the idols that his father had served, and worshiped them.
22 Heforsook theLordGod of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of theLord.
23 Then the servants of Amonconspired against him, and killed the king in his own house.
24 But the people of the landexecuted all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.
25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did,arethey not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
26 And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. Then Josiah his son reigned in his place.