2 Chronicles 33:2

2 Chronicles 33:1-20

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ²He did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH, according to the abominations of the nations whom YHWH had dispossessed before the sons of Israel. ³He built again the high places that Hezekiah his father had torn down; he erected altars for the Baals and made Asherahs, and bowed down to all the army of the heavens and served them. ⁴He built altars in the house of YHWH, of which YHWH had said, “In Jerusalem my name shall be forever.” ⁵He built altars for all the army of the heavens in the two courts of the house of YHWH. ⁶He made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; he practiced soothsaying, read omens, practiced sorcery, and appointed those who call up the dead and spiritists; he multiplied doing evil in the eyes of YHWH, provoking him to anger. ⁷He put the carved image of the idol that he had made in the house of Elohim, of which Elohim had 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 forever; ⁸and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from upon the ground that I established for your fathers, if only they take care to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules, through Moses.” ⁹Manasseh led astray Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to do evil more than the nations that YHWH had destroyed before the sons of Israel. ¹⁰YHWH spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they did not pay attention. ¹¹So YHWH brought against them the commanders of the army that belonged to the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him to Babylon. ¹²When he was in distress, he implored the face of YHWH his Elohim, and humbled himself greatly before the Elohim of his fathers. ¹³He prayed to him, and he let himself be entreated by him, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that YHWH is Elohim. ¹⁴After this he built an outer wall for the city of David, west of Gihon, in the brook, and to the entrance at the Fish Gate, and he surrounded the Ophel and raised it very high. He put commanders of forces in all the fortified cities of Judah. ¹⁵He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of YHWH, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of YHWH and in Jerusalem, and threw them outside the city. ¹⁶He built the altar of YHWH and sacrificed on it sacrifices of peace and of thanksgiving, and told Judah to serve YHWH, the Elohim of Israel. ¹⁷But the people were still sacrificing on the high places, though only to YHWH their Elohim. ¹⁸The rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his Elohim, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, they are in the acts of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹His prayer and how he let himself be entreated by him, and all his sin and his unfaithfulness, and the places where he built high places and set up the Asherahs and the carved images before he humbled himself, they are written in the words of Hozai. ²⁰Manasseh lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in his house; and Amon his son reigned in his place.

2 Kings 21:1-18

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hephzibah. ²He did what was evil in the eyes of YHWH, according to the abominations of the nations whom YHWH dispossessed before the sons of Israel. ³He built again the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed; he raised up altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he bowed down to all the army of the heavens and served them. ⁴He built altars in the house of YHWH, of which YHWH had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my name.” ⁵He built altars for all the army of the heavens in the two courts of the house of YHWH. ⁶He made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying and read omens, and appointed those who call up the dead and spiritists; he did much evil in the eyes of YHWH, to provoke him to anger. ⁷He put the carved image of the Asherah that he had made in the house of which YHWH had 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 forever. ⁸And I will not again make the foot of Israel wander from the land that I gave to their fathers, only if they are careful to do according to all that I commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do evil more than the nations whom YHWH destroyed before the sons of Israel. ¹⁰YHWH spoke through his servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, he has done more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also sin with his idols, ¹²therefore thus says YHWH, the Elohim of Israel: ‘Look, I am bringing evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, such that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. ¹³I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes the dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵because they have done what is evil in my eyes and have been provoking me to anger from the day that their fathers came out of Egypt until this day.’” ¹⁶Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, doing what was evil in the eyes of YHWH. ¹⁷The rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ¹⁸Manasseh lay down with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzzah; and Amon his son reigned in his place.