[1] Manas'seh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned
fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Heph'zibah. [2] And he
did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominable
practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of
Israel. [3] For he rebuilt the high places which Hezeki'ah his father had
destroyed; and he erected altars for Ba'al, and made an Ashe'rah, as Ahab
king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served
them. [4] And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD
had said, "In Jerusalem will I put my name." [5] And he built altars for
all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. [6] And
he burned his son as an offering, and practiced soothsaying and augury, and
dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the
LORD, provoking him to anger. [7] And the graven image of Ashe'rah that he
had made he set in the house of which the LORD 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 for ever; [8] and I will not cause
the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave to their
fathers, if only they will be 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 did not listen, and Manas'seh seduced them to
do more evil than the nations had done whom the LORD destroyed before the
people of Israel. [10] And the LORD said by his servants the prophets, [11]
"Because Manas'seh king of Judah has committed these abominations, and has
done things more wicked than all that the Amorites did, who were before
him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols; [12] therefore thus
says the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and
Judah such evil that the ears of every one who hears of it will tingle.
[13] And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Sama'ria, and
the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a
dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. [14] And I will cast off the
remnant of my heritage, and give them into the hand of their enemies, and
they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, [15] because
they have done what is 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 Manas'seh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled
Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin which he made Judah to
sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. [17] Now the
rest of the acts of Manas'seh, and all that he did, and the sin that he
committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings
of Judah? [18] And Manas'seh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the
garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his
stead. [19] Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshul'lemeth the
daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. [20] And he did what was evil in the sight of
the LORD, as Manas'seh his father had done. [21] He walked in all the way
in which his father walked, and served the idols that his father served,
and worshiped them; [22] he forsook the LORD, the God of his fathers, and
did not walk in the way of the LORD. [23] And the servants of Amon
conspired against him, and killed the king in his house. [24] But the
people of the land slew all those who had conspired against King Amon, and
the people of the land made Josi'ah his son king in his stead. [25] Now the
rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they 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; and Josi'ah his son reigned in his stead.
