2 Kings 21

1 Manasseh was twelve when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-five years. His mother's name was Hephzibah.

Manasses [was] twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name [was] Apsiba.

2 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight by following the disgusting pagan practices of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.

And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel.

3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal. He made an Asherah idol pole, just as Ahab, king of Israel, had done, and he worshiped and served the sun, moon, and stars.

And he built again the high places, which Ezekias his father [had] demolished; and set up an altar to Baal, and made groves as Achaab king of Israel [made them]; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.

4 He set up pagan altars in the Lord's Temple, right where the Lord had said, “I will place my name in Jerusalem forever.”

And he built an altar in the house of the Lord, whereas he had said, In Jerusalem I will place my name.

5 He set up altars to worship the sun, moon, and stars in the two courtyards of the Lord's Temple.

And he built an altar to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

6 He even he sacrificed his own son as a burnt offering, and used fortune-telling and witchcraft, and he dealt with mediums and with spiritists. He did a great deal of evil in the Lord's sight, making the Lord angry.

And he caused his sons to pass through the fire, and used divination and auspices, and made groves, and multiplied wizards, so as to do that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

7 He took the Asherah idol pole he had made and placed in the Temple. This was the place referred to by the Lord when he told David and Solomon, his son, “In this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will place my name forever.

And he set up the graven image of the grove 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, will I even place my name for ever.

8 I will never again make the Israelites wander from the land I gave their forefathers if they are careful to follow everything I have ordered them to do—the whole law that my servant Moses gave them.”

And I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I gave to their fathers, [even of those] who shall keep all that I commanded, according to all the commandments which my servant Moses commanded them.

9 The people refused to listen and Manasseh led them to sin so that the evil they did was even worse than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

But they listened not; and Manasses led them astray to do evil in the sight of the Lord, beyond the nations whom the Lord utterly destroyed from before the children of Israel.

10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets:

And the Lord spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,

11 “Since Manasseh, king of Judah, has committed all these disgusting sins, doing even more evil things than the Amorites who lived before him, and by his encouragement of idol worship has made Judah sin,

Forasmuch as Manasses the king of Juda has wrought all these evil abominations, beyond all that the Amorite did, who lived before [him], and has led Juda also into sin by their idols,

12 this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Watch out! I am going to bring down upon Jerusalem and Judah such a disaster that it will cause ringing in the ears of everyone who hears it.

[it shall] not [be] so. Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I bring calamities upon Jerusalem and Juda, so that both the ears of every one that hears shall tingle.

13 I will extend over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe away Jerusalem as people wipe clean a bowl, wiping it and turning it upside down.

And I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measure of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Achaab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a jar is wiped, and turned upside down in the wiping.

14 I will give up on the remnant of my special people and hand them over to their enemies. They will be plunder and loot to all their enemies,

And I will reject the remnant of my inheritance, and will deliver them into the hands of their enemies; and they shall be for a plunder and for a spoil to all their enemies:

15 because they have done what is evil in my sight, and have made me angry from the day their fathers left Egypt until today.”

forasmuch as they have done wickedly in my sight, and have provoked me from the day that I brought out their fathers out of Egypt, even until this day.

16 On top of that, Manasseh murdered so many innocent people that Jerusalem was filled from one side to the other with their blood. This was in addition to the sin that he had made Judah commit, doing evil in the Lord's sight.

Moreover Manasses shed very much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem [with it] from one end to the other, beside his sins with which he caused Juda to sin, in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord.

17 The rest of what happened in Manasseh's reign, all he did, as well as the sins he committed, are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.

And the rest of the acts of Manasses, and all that he did, and his sin which he sinned, [are] not these things written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Juda?

18 Manasseh died, and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon succeeded him as king.

And Manasses slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, [even] in the garden of Oza: and Amos his son reigned in his stead.

19 Amon was twenty-two when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for two years. His mother's name was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz. She came from Jotbah.

Twenty and two years old [was] Amos when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name [was] Mesollam, daughter of Arus of Jeteba.

20 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight, just as his father Manasseh had done.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasses his father did.

21 He followed all the ways of his father, and he served the idols his father had served, bowing down in worship to them.

And he walked in all the way in which his father walked, and served the idols which his father served, and worshipped them.

22 He rejected the Lord, the God of his forefathers, and did not follow the way of the Lord.

And he forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord.

23 Amon's officials plotted against him and murdered him in his royal palace.

And the servants of Amos conspired against him, and killed the king in his house.

24 But then the people of the land killed everyone who had plotted against King Amon, and they chose his son Josiah king to succeed him.

And the people of the land killed all that had conspired against king Amos; and the people of the land made Josias king in his room.

25 The rest of what happened in Amon's reign, and all he did, are recorded in the Book of Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.

And the rest of the acts of Amos, [even] all that he did, behold, [are] not these written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Juda?

26 He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah succeeded him as king.

And they buried him in his tomb in the garden of Oza: and Josias his son reigned in his stead.