Manasseh’s Reign
1Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.2He did evil in the sight of theLord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom theLord 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 theLord’s temple, about which theLord had said, “Jerusalem will be my permanent home.”5In the two courtyards of theLord’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 theLord 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 to Moses.”9But Manasseh misled the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom theLord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.
10TheLord confronted Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.11So theLord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They seized Manasseh, put hooks in his nose, bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon.12In his pain Manasseh asked theLord his God for mercy and truly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.13When he prayed to theLord, theLord responded to him and answered favorably his cry for mercy. TheLord brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh realized that theLord is the true God.
14After this Manasseh built up the outer wall of the City of David on the west side of the Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate and all around the terrace; he made it much higher. He placed army officers in all the fortified cities in Judah.
15He removed the foreign gods and images from theLord’s temple and all the altars he had built on the hill of theLord’s temple and in Jerusalem; he threw them outside the city.16He erected the altar of theLord and offered on it peace offerings and thank offerings. He told the people of Judah to serve theLord God of Israel.17The people continued to offer sacrifices at the high places, but only to theLord their God.
18The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the prophets spoke to him in the name of theLord God of Israel, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.19The Annals of the Prophets include his prayer, give an account of how theLord responded to it, record all his sins and unfaithful acts, and identify the sites where he built high places and erected Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself.20Manasseh passed away and was buried in his palace. His son Amon replaced him as king.
Amon’s Reign
21Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem.22He did evil in the sight of theLord, just like his father Manasseh had done. He offered sacrifices to all the idols his father Manasseh had made, and worshiped them.23He did not humble himself before theLord as his father Manasseh had done. Amon was guilty of great sin.24His servants conspired against him and killed him in his palace.25The people of the land executed all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.
