Manasseh Son of Hezekiah, King of Judah
211Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.
2He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the disgusting practices of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel. 3He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, just as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to the whole army of the heavens,[] and he served them. 4He built altars in the House of the Lord, about which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my name.” 5He built altars to all the army of the heavens in the two courtyards of the House of the Lord. 6He made his son pass through the fire. He practiced fortune telling and sought omens and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He greatly increased the evil he did in the eyes of the Lord and provoked him to anger.
7He put an image of Asherah, which he had made, into the house about which the Lord said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. 8I will not make the feet of Israel wander again from the land which I gave to their fathers, if they will just be careful to do whatever I commanded them and to observe the whole law which my servant Moses commanded them.” 9But they did not listen. Manasseh led them astray so that they did more evil than the nations whom the Lord exterminated before the people of Israel.
God's Judgment on Manasseh
10Then the Lord said through his prophets:
11Because Manasseh king of Judah has engaged in these disgusting practices and has done more evil than all that which the Amorites who had gone before him had done, and he has caused Judah to sin with his filthy idols, 12therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. Pay attention! I am bringing such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of all who hear of it will tingle. 13I will stretch out over Israel the plumb line that was stretched out over Samaria and the level used on the house of Ahab. I will wipe away Jerusalem just as someone wipes a bowl clean and turns it upside down. 14I will hand over the remnant of my possession and give them into the hand of their enemies, so that they become plunder and spoils for all their enemies, 15because they have done what is evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day when their fathers came out of Egypt until today.
16Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end. This was in addition to the sin which he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.
17As for the rest of Manasseh's acts, everything he did and the sin he committed, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? 18Manasseh rested with his fathers, and he was buried in the garden of his palace, in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Amon became king in his place.
Amon Son of Manasseh, King of Judah
19Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king and he ruled for two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz from Jotbah.
20He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done. 21He walked in all the ways in which his father had walked, and he served the filthy idols which his father had served, and he worshipped them. 22He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and he did not walk in the way of the Lord.
23Amon's servants conspired against him, and they killed the king in his palace. 24Then the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.
25As for the rest of Amon's acts, the things he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? 26They buried him in his own tomb in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Josiah became king in his place.