2 Chroniques 33

Manasseh king of Judah

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ²He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations that the LORD had driven out ahead of the Israelites. ³He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had pulled down. He set up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the host of heaven and served them. ⁴He built altars in the house of the LORD, the house about which the LORD had said, “My name will be in Jerusalem forever.” ⁵He built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD. ⁶He made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, practiced fortune-telling, read omens and practiced sorcery, and consulted a medium and a spiritist. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. ⁷He placed the carved idol he had made in the house of God, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, the city I chose from among all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. ⁸And I will not again make the feet of Israel leave the land I assigned to your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, the whole law, the statutes and the rulings given through Moses.” ⁹Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.

Manasseh’s captivity and return

¹⁰The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. ¹¹So the LORD brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon.^{a 12}In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself deeply before the God of his ancestors. ¹³He prayed to him, and he was moved by his prayer. He heard his plea for mercy and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God. ¹⁴After this he built an outer wall for the City of David, west of Gihon in the valley, as far as the entrance at the Fish Gate. He carried it around the Ophel and made it very high. He also stationed army commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. ¹⁵He removed the foreign gods from the house of the LORD, and the idol as well, together with every altar he had built on the temple mount and elsewhere in Jerusalem, and threw them outside the city. ¹⁶He restored the altar of the LORD and offered on it peace offerings and thank offerings, and he commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.^{b 17}Even so, the people still sacrificed at the high places, though only to the LORD their God. ¹⁸The rest of the acts of Manasseh, including the prayer he made to his God and what the seers said to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, are found in the Records of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁹His prayer and how God answered his plea, every sin and act of unfaithfulness, and the places where he built high places and erected Asherah poles and carved idols before he humbled himself, are written in the records of Hozai.^{c 20}Then Manasseh rested with his ancestors, and they buried him at his palace. His son Amon became king in his place.

Amon king of Judah

²¹Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²²He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done, offering sacrifices to all the carved idols his father had made and serving them. ²³Unlike his father Manasseh, he did not humble himself before the LORD. Instead Amon added more and more to his guilt. ²⁴His officials plotted against him and killed him in his palace. ²⁵Then the people of the land killed all who had plotted against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.