2 Chronicles 33

Manasseh’s Long and Evil Reign

1Manasseh became king at the age of twelve, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, copying the abhorrent practices of the nations that Yahweh had driven out before the Israelites. 3He set about rebuilding the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down; he raised altars to the Baals, made Asherah poles, bowed to the whole host of heaven and served them. 4He even built altars inside the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh had said, “My name will be in Jerusalem for ever.” 5In the two courtyards of the house of Yahweh he built altars to the whole host of heaven. 6He made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; he practised soothsaying, divination and sorcery, and he consulted mediums and spiritists. He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh again and again, provoking him to anger. 7The carved idol of his own making he installed in the house of God — the house of which God had told David and his son Solomon, “Here, and in Jerusalem, the city I chose out of every tribe of Israel, I will set my name for ever; 8and I will never again lift Israel’s foot from the land that I assigned to your ancestors — if only they take care to do all that I commanded them, the whole law with the statutes and the rulings given through Moses.” 9But Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations Yahweh had destroyed before the Israelites.

Manasseh Humbled, and Amon After Him

10Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. 11So Yahweh brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria. They caught Manasseh with hooks, bound him in bronze shackles and marched him off to Babylon. 12In his distress he sought the favour of Yahweh his God and humbled himself deeply before the God of his ancestors. 13He prayed to him, and God let himself be entreated; he heard his plea and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh is God. 14After this he built an outer wall for the City of David, west of Gihon in the valley, reaching the entrance of the Fish Gate and circling the Ophel, and he raised it to a great height. He also posted army commanders in every fortified city of Judah. 15He cleared the foreign gods and the idol out of the house of Yahweh, along with all the altars he had built on the mount of the house of Yahweh and in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city. 16He built up the altar of Yahweh and offered on it fellowship offerings and thank offerings, and he charged Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel. 17The people, however, went on sacrificing at the high places, though only to Yahweh their God. 18The rest of Manasseh’s acts, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel — these stand in the records of the kings of Israel. 19His prayer and how God was entreated by him, all his sin and his treachery, and the sites where he built high places and set up the Asherah poles and the carved images before he humbled himself — all of it is written in the records of Hozai. 20Manasseh lay down with his ancestors and was buried at his own house, and his son Amon became king in his place. 21Amon came to the throne at twenty-two, and his reign in Jerusalem lasted two years. 22He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, as his father Manasseh had done. To all the carved images his father Manasseh had made Amon sacrificed, and he served them. 23He never humbled himself before Yahweh as his father Manasseh had done; Amon only heaped up more guilt. 24A conspiracy was formed against him by his own officials, and they killed him inside his house. 25But the people of the land struck down everyone who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.