CHAPTER 21
Manasseh
was twelve
years old
when he became king,
and he reigned
in Jerusalem
fifty-five
years.
His mother’s
name
was Hephzibah.
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 destroyed,
and he raised up
altars
for Baal.
He made
an Asherah pole,
as
King
Ahab
of Israel
had done,
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,
“In Jerusalem
I will put
My Name.”
He sacrificed
his own son
in the fire,
practiced sorcery
and divination,
and consulted
mediums
and spiritists.
He did
great
evil
in the sight
of the LORD,
provoking Him to anger.
Manasseh even took the carved
Asherah pole
he had made
and set it up
in the temple,
of which
the LORD
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 wander
from
the land
I gave
their fathers,
if
only
they are careful
to do
all
I have commanded them—
the whole
Law
that
My servant
Moses
commanded
them."
But the people did not
listen
and Manasseh
led them astray,
so that they did
greater evil
than
the nations
the LORD
had destroyed
before
the Israelites.
“Since
Manasseh
king
of Judah
has committed
all
these
abominations,
acting more wickedly
than the Amorites
who
preceded him,
and
with his idols
has caused Judah
to sin,
this is what
the LORD,
the God
of Israel,
says:
‘Behold,
I am bringing
such calamity
upon
Jerusalem
and Judah
that the news
will reverberate
in the ears
of all
who hear it.
I will stretch out
over
Jerusalem
the measuring line
used against Samaria
and the plumb line
used against the house
of Ahab,
and I will wipe out
Jerusalem
as
one wipes out
a bowl—
wiping it
and turning it
upside down.
So I will forsake
the remnant
of My inheritance
and deliver them
into the hand
of their enemies.
And they will become
plunder
and spoil
to all
their enemies,
because
they have done
evil
in My sight
and have provoked
Me to anger
from
the day
their fathers
came
out of Egypt
until
this
day.’”
Moreover,
Manasseh
shed
so much
innocent
blood
that
he filled
Jerusalem
from end to end,
in addition to
the sin
that
he had caused Judah
to commit,
doing
evil
in the sight
of the LORD.
As for the rest
of the acts
of Manasseh,
along with all
his accomplishments
and the sin
that
he committed,
are they not written
in the Book
of the Chronicles
of the Kings
of Judah?
And Manasseh
rested
with
his fathers
and was buried
in his palace
garden,
the garden
of Uzza.
And his son
Amon
became king
in his place.
Amon
was twenty-two
years old
when he became king,
and he reigned
in Jerusalem
two
years.
His mother’s
name
was Meshullemeth
daughter
of Haruz;
she was from
Jotbah.
He walked
in all
the ways
of his father,
and he served
and worshiped
the idols
his father
had served.
But the people
of the land
killed
all
who had conspired
against
King
Amon,
and they made his son
Josiah
king
in his place.
As for the rest
of the acts
of Amon,
along with his accomplishments,
are they not written
in the Book
of the Chronicles
of the Kings
of Judah?
And he was buried
in his tomb
in the garden
of Uzza,
and his son
Josiah
became king
in his place.