CHAPTER 33
And he did
evil
in the sight
of the LORD
by following the abominations
of the nations
that
the LORD
had driven out
before
the Israelites.
For he rebuilt
the high places
that
his father
Hezekiah
had torn down,
and he raised up
altars
for the Baals
and made
Asherah poles.
And he worshiped
and served
all
the host
of heaven.
Manasseh also built
altars
in the house
of the LORD,
of which
the LORD
had said,
“My Name
will remain
in Jerusalem
forever.”
He
sacrificed
his sons
in the fire
in the Valley of Hinnom.
He practiced sorcery,
divination,
and witchcraft,
and consulted
mediums
and spiritists.
He did
great
evil
in the sight
of the LORD,
provoking Him to anger.
Manasseh even took the carved
image
he had made
and set up
in the house
of God,
of which
God
had said
to
David
and his son
Solomon,
“In this
temple
and in Jerusalem,
which
I have chosen
out of all
the tribes
of Israel,
I will establish
My Name
forever.
I will never
again
cause the feet
of the Israelites
to leave
the land
I assigned
to your fathers,
if
only
they are careful
to do
all
that
I have commanded
them through
Moses—
all
the laws,
statutes,
and judgments."
So Manasseh
led the people
of Judah
and Jerusalem
astray,
so that they did
greater evil
than
the nations
the LORD
had destroyed
before
the Israelites.
So the LORD
brought
against them
the military
commanders
of the king
of Assyria,
who captured
Manasseh,
put a hook in his nose,
bound
him with bronze shackles,
and took
him to Babylon.
And in his distress,
Manasseh sought
the favor
of the LORD
his God
and earnestly
humbled himself
before
the God
of his fathers.
And when he prayed
to Him,
the LORD received his plea
and heard
his petition;
so He brought him back
to Jerusalem
and to his kingdom.
Then Manasseh
knew
that
the LORD
is God.
After
this,
Manasseh rebuilt
the outer
wall
of the City
of David
from west
of Gihon
in the valley
to the entrance
of the Fish
Gate,
and he brought it around
the Ophel
and heightened it
considerably.
He also stationed
military
commanders
in all
the fortified
cities
of Judah.
He removed
the foreign
gods
and the idol
from the house
of the LORD,
along with all
the altars
he had built
on the temple
mount
and in Jerusalem,
and he dumped
them outside
the city.
Then he restored
the altar
of the LORD
and sacrificed
peace offerings
and thank
offerings
on it,
and he told
Judah
to serve
the LORD,
the God
of Israel.
As for the rest
of the acts
of Manasseh,
along with his prayer
to
his God
and the words
of the seers
who spoke
to him
in the name
of the LORD,
the God
of Israel,
they are indeed
written in
the Chronicles
of the Kings
of Israel.
His prayer
and how God received his plea,
as well as all
his sin
and unfaithfulness,
and the sites
where
he built
high places
and set up
Asherah poles
and idols
before
he humbled himself,
they are indeed
written
in
the Records
of the Seers.
And Manasseh
rested
with
his fathers
and was buried
at his palace.
And his son
Amon
became king
in his place.
And he did
evil
in the sight
of the LORD,
as
his father
Manasseh
had done.
Amon
served
and sacrificed
to all
the idols
that
his father
Manasseh
had made,
but he did not
humble
himself before
the LORD
as his father
Manasseh
had done;
instead,
Amon
increased
his guilt.
But the people
of the land
killed
all
who had conspired
against
King
Amon,
and they made his son
Josiah
king
in his place.