2 Kings 21

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the people of Israel. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He raised altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the host of heaven and served them. He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my name.” He built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. He made his son pass through the fire, practiced sorcery and sought omens, and used mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. He placed the carved image of Asherah he had made in the house of which the LORD had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. I will no longer make Israel’s feet wander from the land I gave their ancestors, if only they are careful to do everything I commanded them and to follow all the law my servant Moses commanded them.” But they did not listen. Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the people of Israel. Then the LORD spoke through his servants the prophets, saying, “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these detestable things, has done worse than all that the Amorites before him did, and has also caused Judah to sin with his idols, therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am bringing a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that will make both ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it clean and turning it upside down. I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. They will become prey and plunder for all their enemies, because they have done evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt to this day.” Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, besides his sin of causing Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the LORD. As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, all that he did, and the sin he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza. His son Amon reigned in his place. Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz, from Jotbah. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. He walked in all the ways his father had walked, served the idols his father had served, and bowed down to them. He forsook the LORD, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in the way of the LORD. Amon’s servants conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house. But the people of the land struck down all who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place. As for the rest of the acts of Amon and what he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah reigned in his place.

Rights and attribution