Chapter 21
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign , and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem . His mother’s name was Hephzibah .
2 He did that which was evil in the LORD ’s sight , after the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel .
3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he raised up altars for Baal , and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel did , and worshipped all the army of the sky , and served them .
4 He built altars in the LORD ’s house , of which the LORD said, " I will put my name in Jerusalem ."
5 He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of the LORD ’s house .
6 He made his son to pass through the fire, practised sorcery, used enchantments , and dealt with those who had familiar spirits and with wizards . He did much evil in the LORD ’s sight , to provoke him to anger .
7 He set the engraved image of Asherah that he had made 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 ;
8 I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them , and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them ."
9 But they didn’t listen , and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than the nations did whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel .
10 The LORD spoke by his servants the prophets , saying ,
11 " Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations , and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did , who were before him , and has also made Judah to sin with his idols ;
12 therefore the LORD the God of Israel says , ‘ Behold , I will bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it , both his ears will tingle .
13 I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria , and the plumb line of Ahab’s house ; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish , wiping it and turning it upside down .
14 I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies . They will become a prey and a plunder to all their enemies ,
15 because they have done that which is evil in my sight , and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt , even to this day .’"
16 Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much , until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another ; in addition to his sin with which he made Judah to sin , in doing that which was evil in the LORD ’s sight .
17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh , and all that he did , and his sin that he sinned , aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah ?
18 Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house , in the garden of Uzza ; and Amon his son reigned in his place .
19 Amon 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 .
20 He did that which was evil in the LORD ’s sight , as Manasseh his father did .
21 He walked in all the ways that his father walked in , and served the idols that his father served , and worshipped them ;
22 and he abandoned the LORD , the God of his fathers, and didn’t walk in the way of the LORD .
23 The servants of Amon conspired against him , and put the king to death in his own house .
24 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place .
25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did , aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah ?
26 He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza , and Josiah his son reigned in his place .