2Ki 21 | LSB | STEP | Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah.

‏ 2 Kings 21

Manasseh Reigns over Judah

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh dispossessed before the sons of Israel. 3 Indeed, he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he erected altars for Baal and made an ^{▼▼A wooden symbol of a female deity}Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My name.” 5 Indeed, he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Yahweh. 6 He even made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying and interpreted omens, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much that was evil in the sight of Yahweh provoking Him to anger. 7 Then he put the graven image of Asherah, which he had made, in the house of which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. 8 And I will not make the foot of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave 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.” 9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray in order to do more evil than the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Yahweh Brings Calamity on Israel

10 Then Yahweh spoke by the hand of His slaves the prophets, saying, 11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations—he has done evil more than all the Amorites did who were before him—and has also made Judah sin with his idols, 12 therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. 13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the level of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish—he wipes it and turns it upside down. 14 And I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become as plunder and spoil to all their enemies; 15 because they have done what is evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.’ ”

16 Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing what is evil in the sight of Yahweh. 17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did and his sin which he sinned, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son became king in his place.

Amon Reigns over Judah

19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20 And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had done. 21 And he walked in all the way that his father had walked and served the idols that his father had served and worshiped them. 22 So he forsook Yahweh, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of Yahweh. 23 Then the servants of Amon conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house. 24 Then 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. 25 Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 26 And he was buried in his grave in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son became king in his place.