1    ^noteManasseh was twelve years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-five years; his mother was Hephzi-bah. 2   He did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord, in following the abominable practices of the nations which the Lord had dispossessed in favour of the Israelites. 3   He rebuilt the hill-shrines which his father Hezekiah had destroyed, he erected altars to the Baal and made a sacred pole as Ahab king of Israel had done, and prostrated himself before all the host of heaven and worshipped them. 4   He built altars in the house of the Lord, that house of which the Lord had said, ‘Jerusalem shall receive my Name.’ 5   He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord; 6   he made his son pass through the fire, he practised soothsaying and divination, and dealt with ghosts and spirits. He did much wrong in the eyes of the Lord and provoked his anger; 7   and the image that he had made of the goddess Asherah he put in the house, the place of which the Lord had said to David and Solomon his son, ‘This house and Jerusalem, which I chose out of all the tribes of Israel, shall receive my Name for all time. 8   I will not again make Israel outcasts from the land which I gave to their forefathers, if only they will be careful to observe all my commands and all the law that my servant Moses gave them.’ 9   But they did not obey, and Manasseh misled them into wickedness far worse than that of the nations which the Lord had exterminated in favour of the Israelites.

10    11   Then the Lord spoke through his servants the prophets: ‘Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominable things, outdoing the Amorites before him in wickedness, and because he has led Judah into sin with his idols, this is the word of the Lord the God of Israel: 12    I will bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah, disaster which will ring in the ears of all who hear of it. 13   I will mark down every stone of Jerusalem with the plumb-line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab; I will wipe away Jerusalem as when a man wipes his plate and turns it upside down, 14   and I will cast off what is left of my people, my own possession, and hand them over to their enemies. They shall be plundered and fall a prey to all their enemies; 15   for they have

The last kings of Judah done what is wrong in my eyes and have provoked my anger from the day their forefathers left Egypt up to the present day. 16   And this Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem full to the brim, not to mention the sin into which he led Judah by doing what is wrong in my eyes.’ 17   The other events and acts of Manasseh's reign, and the sin that he committed, are recorded in the annals of the kings of Judah. 18   So Manasseh rested with his forefathers and was buried in the garden-tomb of his family, in the garden of Uzza; he was succeeded by his son Amon.

19    ^noteAmon was twenty-two years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned in Jerusalem for two years; his mother was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20   He did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. 21   He followed in his father's footsteps and served the idols that his father had served and prostrated himself before them. 22   He forsook the Lord the God of his fathers and did not conform to his ways. 23   King Amon's courtiers conspired against him and murdered him in his house; 24   but the people of the land killed all the conspirators and made his son Josiah king in his place. 25   The other events of Amon's reign are recorded in the annals of the kings of Judah. 26   He was buried in his grave in the garden of Uzza; he was succeeded by his son Josiah.

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