Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah

(2 Kings 21:1-9)

1Manasseh began to reign at the age of twelve years, and continued to reign for 55 years in Jerusalem. 2But he practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by behaving detestably, as did the nations whom the LORD expelled in front of the Israelis.

The Sins of Manasseh

3He re-established the high places that his father Hezekiah had demolished, he built altars to the Baals, erected Asherim, and worshipped and served the armiesa of heaven. 4He also built altars in the LORD’s Temple, about which the LORD had spoken “My name will reside in Jerusalem forever.”b 5He built altars for all the armiesc of heaven in the two courtyards of the LORD’s Temple.d 6He burned his sonse as an offering in the Ben-hinnom Valley, practiced fortune-telling, witchcraft, sorcery, and communicated with mediums and separatists. He did a lot of things that the LORD considered to be evil, thus provoking him. 7He also placed an image that he had carved in God’s Temple, the place about which God had told to David and to his son Solomon, “I will place my name in this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel,”f 8and “I won’t let Israel’s foothold slip on the land that I’ve given to your ancestors, if only they will be careful to keep everything that I commanded them in the Law, in the statutes, and in the ordinance through Moses.”g 9This is how Manasseh deceived Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to practice more evil than the nations whom the LORD had eliminated in front of the Israelis.

Manasseh Repents and is Restored

10The LORD kept on speaking to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention to him, 11so the LORD brought in the army commanders who worked for the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him in bronze chains, and took him off to Babylon. 12But when he was in trouble, he sought the face of the LORD his God, humbled himself magnificently before the God of his ancestors, 13and prayed to him. Moved by Manasseh’sh entreaties, the LORD heard his supplications and brought him back to his kingdom in Jerusalem. That’s how Manasseh learned that the LORD is God.

14Later on, Manassehi reinforced the outer wall to the City of David on the west side overlooking the Gihon Valley as far as the Fish Gate. He encircled the Ophel,j raising it to a great height. 15He also eliminated the foreign gods and idols from the LORD’s Temple, along with all of the altars that he had built in Jerusalem and on the mountain where the LORD’s Temple was located, and he discarded them outside the city. 16He set up an altar to the LORD, sacrificed peace offerings on it, and ordered Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. 17Even so, the people continued to sacrifice in the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

The Death of Manasseh

(2 Kings 21:17-18)

18Now as to the rest of Manasseh’s accomplishments, including his prayer to God and what the seers had to say to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, they are included among the Acts of the Kings of Israel. 19His prayer, how God was moved by him, all of his sin and unfaithfulness, and a record of the sites where he constructed high places, erected Asherim and carved images before he humbled himself are written in the Acts of the Seers.k 20So Manasseh died, as had his ancestors, and they buried him in his own palace while his son Amon became king in his place.

Amon’s Reign and Death

(2 Kings 21:19-26)

21Amon was 22 years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22He practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, just as his father Manasseh had done, sacrificing to and serving all the carved images that his father Manasseh had made, 23except that he never humbled himself to the LORD like his father Manasseh had done. In fact, Amon multiplied his own guilt 24until his servants finally conspired against him and executed him in his own palace. 25But the people of the land executed all of the conspirators against King Amon and installed his son Josiah as king to succeed him.