1Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 55 years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.2Manasseh did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD. He followed the practices of the nations. The LORD hated those practices. He had driven those nations out to make room for the Israelites.3Manasseh rebuilt the high places. His father Hezekiah had destroyed them. Manasseh also set up altars to the god named Baal. He made a pole used to worship the female god named Asherah. Ahab, the king of Israel, had done those same things. Manasseh even bowed down to all the stars. And he worshipped them.4He built altars in the LORD’s temple. The LORD had said about his temple, ‘I will put my Name there in Jerusalem.’5In the two courtyards of the LORD’s temple Manasseh built altars to honour all the stars.6He sacrificed his own son in the fire to another god. He practised all kinds of evil magic. He got messages from those who had died. He talked to the spirits of the dead. He did many things that were evil in the eyes of the LORD. Manasseh made the LORD very angry.7Manasseh had carved a pole used to worship the female god named Asherah. He put it in the temple. The LORD had spoken to David and his son Solomon about the temple. He had said, ‘My Name will be in this temple and in Jerusalem for ever. Out of all the cities in the tribes of Israel I have chosen Jerusalem.8I gave this land to your people who lived long ago. I will not make the Israelites wander away from it again. But they must be careful to do everything I commanded them. They must obey the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them.’9But the people didn’t pay any attention. Manasseh led them astray. They did more evil things than the nations the LORD had destroyed. He had destroyed them to make room for the Israelites.10The LORD spoke through his servants the prophets. He said,11‘Manasseh, the king of Judah, has committed terrible sins. I hate them. Manasseh has done more evil things than the Amorites who were in the land before him. And he has led Judah to commit sin by worshipping his statues of gods.12I am the LORD, the God of Israel. I tell you, “I am going to bring trouble on Jerusalem and Judah. It will be so horrible that the ears of everyone who hears about it will tingle.13I will measure out punishment against Jerusalem, just as I did against Samaria. I used a plumb line against the royal family of Ahab. I used it to prove that they did not measure up to my standards. I will use the same plumb line against Jerusalem. I will wipe out Jerusalem, just as someone wipes a dish. I will wipe it and turn it upside down.14I will desert those who remain among my people. I will hand them over to their enemies. All their enemies will rob them.15That’s because my people have done what is evil in my sight. They have made me very angry. They have done that from the day their own people came out of Egypt until this day.” ’16Manasseh also spilled the blood of many people who weren’t guilty of doing anything wrong. He spilled so much blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end of the city to the other. And he caused Judah to commit sin. So they also did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD.17The other events of the rule of Manasseh are written down. That includes the sin he committed. Everything he did is written in the official records of the kings of Judah.18Manasseh joined the members of his family who had already died. He was buried in his palace garden. It was called the garden of Uzza. Manasseh’s son Amon became the next king after him.
Amon king of Judah
19Amon was 22 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for two years. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth. She was the daughter of Haruz. She was from Jotbah.20Amon did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Manasseh had done.21He lived the way his father had lived. He worshipped the statues of the gods his father had worshipped. He bowed down to them.22He deserted the LORD, the God of his people. He didn’t obey the LORD.23Amon’s officials made plans against him. They murdered the king in his palace.24Then the people of the land killed all those officials who had made plans against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.25The other events of the rule of Amon are written down. Everything he did is written in the official records of the kings of Judah.26Amon was buried in his grave in the garden of Uzza. Amon’s son Josiah became the next king after him.
2 Kings 21
English Standard Version
Manasseh Reigns in Judah
1Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. (2Ch 33:1)2And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. (2Ki 16:3)3For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. (De 4:19; De 16:21; 1Ki 16:32; 2Ki 17:16; 2Ki 18:4; 2Ki 23:5)4And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” (De 12:11; 2Sa 7:13; 1Ki 8:29; 1Ki 9:3; 2Ki 21:7; 2Ki 23:27; Jer 7:30; Jer 32:34)5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. (1Ki 6:36; 1Ki 7:12; 2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 23:12)6And he burned his son as an offering[1] and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. (Le 18:21; Le 19:26; Le 19:31; 2Ki 17:17; 2Ki 23:24)7And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord 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. (2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 21:4)8And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” (2Sa 7:19)9But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.
Manasseh’s Idolatry Denounced
10And the Lord said by his servants the prophets,11“Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, (1Ki 21:26; 2Ki 21:2; 2Ki 21:16; 2Ki 21:21; 2Ki 23:26; 2Ki 24:3; Jer 15:4)12therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster[2] that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. (1Sa 3:11; Jer 19:3)13And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. (Isa 28:17; Isa 34:11; La 2:8; Am 7:7)14And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies,15because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”16Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. (2Ki 21:11; 2Ki 24:4)17Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? (2Ch 33:11)18And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place. (2Ki 21:26; 2Ch 33:20)
Amon Reigns in Judah
19Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.20And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. (2Ki 21:2; 2Ki 21:11)21He walked in all the way in which his father walked and served the idols that his father served and worshiped them. (2Ki 21:11)22He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. (1Ki 11:33; 2Ki 22:17)23And the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his house.24But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.25Now the rest of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?26And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place. (2Ki 21:18)