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.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephzibah.

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 evil in the sight of Jehovah, like the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed 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 that Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars to Baal and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel; 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 altars in the house of Jehovah, of which Jehovah had said, In Jerusalem will I put 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 altars to all the host of heaven in both courts of the house of Jehovah.

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 son to pass through the fire, and used magic and divination, and appointed necromancers and soothsayers: he wrought evil beyond measure in the sight of Jehovah, 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 the graven image of the Asherah that he had made, in the house of which Jehovah had 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 put 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.”

neither will I any more cause the foot of Israel to wander away from the land that I gave their fathers; if they will only take heed to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that 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 would not hearken, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations that Jehovah had destroyed from before the children of Israel.

10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets:

And Jehovah 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,

Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his 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.

therefore thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears 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 over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipeth a pan, wiping it and turning it upside down.

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 forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and 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.”

because they have done evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt even to 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.

And Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem [with it] from one end to another; beside his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing evil in the sight of Jehovah.

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

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 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.

Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

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

And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had done;

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 that his father had walked in, and served the idols that his father had 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 Jehovah the God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of Jehovah.

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

And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own 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.

But the people of the land smote all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

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 Amon, what he did, are they not 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 his son Josiah succeeded him as king.

And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza; and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.