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 five and fifty years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Haphsiba.

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 the Lord, according to the idols of the nations, which the Lord destroyed from before the face of 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 turned, and built up the high places which Ezechias his father had destroyed: and he set up altars to Baal, and made groves, as Achab the king of Israel had done: and he adored 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 the Lord, of which the Lord said: In Jerusalem I will 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 for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the temple 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 made his son pass through fire: and he used divination, and observed omens, and appointed pythons, and multiplied soothsayers to do evil before the Lord, and to provoke him.

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.

He set also an idol of the grove, which he had made, in the temple of the Lord: concerning which the Lord said to David, and to Solomon his son: In this temple, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will 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.”

And I will no more make the feet of Israel to be moved out of the land, which I gave to their fathers: only if they will observe to do all that I have commanded them according to the law 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 hearkened not: but were seduced by Manasses, to do evil more than the nations which the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.

10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets:

And the Lord spoke in the hand of 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 Manasses king of Juda hath done these most wicked abominations, beyond all that the Amorrhites did before him, and hath made Juda also to sin with his filthy doings:

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 the Lord the God of Israel: Behold I will bring on evils upon Jerusalem and Juda: that whosoever shall hear of them, 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 weight of the house of Achab: and I will efface Jerusalem, as tables are wont to be effaced, and I will erase and turn it, and draw the pencil often over the face thereof.

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 leave the remnants of my inheritance, and will deliver them into the hands 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 before me, and have continued to provoke me, from the day that their fathers came out of Egypt, even unto 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 also very much innocent blood, till he filled Jerusalem up to the mouth: besides his sins, wherewith he made Juda to sin, to do evil before 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.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasses, and all that he did, and his sin which he sinned, are they not written in the book of the words of the days 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 own house, in the garden of Oza: and Amen 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.

Two and twenty years old was Amen when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Messalemeth the daughter of Harus of Jeteba.

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 the Lord, as Manasses 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 in which his father had walked: and he served the abominations which his father had served, and he adored them;

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

And forsook the Lord the 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 his servants plotted 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 slew all them that had conspired against king Amen: and made Josias his son their 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.

But the rest of the acts of Amen which he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days 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 sepulchre in the garden of Oza: and his son Josias reigned in his stead.