Manasseh King of Judah
1Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2He did what was evil in Yahweh’s eyes, following the abominations of the nations Yahweh had driven out before the Israelites. 3He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he bowed down to the whole host of heaven and served them. 4He built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my name.” 5He built altars to the whole host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Yahweh. 6He made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a great deal that was evil in Yahweh’s eyes, provoking him. 7He set up the carved image of Asherah he had made in the temple, the very house of which Yahweh had told David and his son Solomon, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. 8I will never again make the feet of Israel wander from the land I gave their fathers — if only they will carefully do everything I commanded them, and keep the whole law my servant Moses gave them.” 9But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations Yahweh had destroyed before the Israelites. 10So Yahweh spoke through his servants the prophets: 11“Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations — he has done more evil than all the Amorites did before him, and has caused Judah also to sin with his idols — 12this is what Yahweh, God of Israel, says: I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will ring. 13I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria, and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem clean as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14I will abandon the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies; they will become plunder and prey to all their enemies, 15because they have done what is evil in my eyes and have provoked me ever since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, until this very day.” 16Manasseh also shed a great deal of innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from end to end — this in addition to the sin he led Judah to commit, doing what was evil in Yahweh’s eyes. 17As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh — all he did, and the sin he committed — are they not written in the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 18Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza; Amon his son became king in his place.
Amon King of Judah
19Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20He did what was evil in Yahweh’s eyes, as his father Manasseh had done. 21He walked in every way his father had walked, served the idols his father had served, and bowed down to them. 22He abandoned Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in Yahweh’s way. 23Amon’s own servants conspired against him and killed the king in his own house. 24Then the people of the land struck down all who had conspired against king Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place. 25As for the rest of the acts of Amon, are they not written in the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 26He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son became king in his place.
