2 Chronicles 33

1 Manasseh was twelue yeere olde, when he beganne to reigne, and he reigned fiue and fiftie yeere in Ierusalem:

Manasseh was 12 years old when he became the king [of Judah], and he ruled from Jerusalem for 55 years.

2 And he did euill in the sight of the Lord, like the abominations of the heathen, who the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

He did many things that Yahweh considered to be evil. He imitated the disgusting things that were formerly done by the people-groups that Yahweh had expelled from Israel as his people advanced [though the land].

3 For he went backe and built the hie places, which Hezekiah his father had broken downe: and he set vp altars for Baalim, and made groues, and worshipped all the hoste of the heauen, and serued them.

He commanded his workers to rebuild the shrines [for worshiping idols] that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He told them to set up altars to [honor] the statues of Baal, and to make altars to [honor the goddess] Asherah. He bowed down to [worship] all the stars.

4 Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had saide, In Ierusalem shall my Name be for euer.

He directed his workers to build altars [for foreign gods] in the temple, about which Yahweh had said, “It is here in Jerusalem that I want people to worship me, forever.”

5 And he built altars for all the hoste of the heauen in the two courtes of the house of the Lord.

He directed that altars for [worshiping] all the stars be built in both of the courtyards outside the temple.

6 And he caused his sonnes to passe through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom: he gaue him selfe to witchcraft and to charming and to sorcerie, and he vsed them that had familiar spirits, and soothsayers: hee did very much euill in the sight of the Lord to anger him.

He even sacrificed [some of] his own sons and burned them in a fire in Hinnom Valley. He performed rituals to practice sorcery. He asked fortune-tellers for advice. He performed witchcraft. He talked to people who consulted the spirits of people who had died to find out what would happen in the future. He did many things that Yahweh considered o be very evil, things that caused Yahweh to become very angry.

7 He put also the carued image, which he had made, in the house of God: whereof God had said to Dauid and to Salomon his sonne, In this house and in Ierusalem, which I haue chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my Name for euer,

Manasseh took a carved idol [that his workers had made] and put it in the temple. That is the temple concerning which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “My temple will be here in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen [where I want people to] worship me, forever.

8 Neither will I make the foote of Israel to remooue any more out of the lande which I haue appointed for your fathers, so that they take heede, and do all that I haue commanded them, according to the Lawe and statutes and iudgements by the hande of Moses.

If they will obey all the laws and decrees and regulations that I told Moses to give to them, I will not again force the Israeli people to leave this land that I gave to their ancestors.”

9 So Manasseh made Iudah and the inhabitants of Ierusalem to erre, and to doe worse then the heathen, whome the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.

But Manasseh led the people of Jerusalem and other places in Judah to do things that are wrong, with the result that they did more evil than was done by the people in the people-groups that Yahweh had expelled as the Israeli people advanced [through the land].

10 And the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not regarde.

Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and the people of Judah, but they paid no attention.

11 Wherefore the Lord brought vpon them the captaines of the hoste of the King of Asshur, which tooke Manasseh and put him in fetters, and bound him in chaines, and caryed him to Babel.

So Yahweh caused the army commanders of Assyria [and their soldiers] to [come to Jerusalem, and they] captured Manasseh. They put a hook in his nose and put bronze chains on his [feet] and took him to Babylon.

12 And when he was in tribulation, he prayed to the Lord his God, and humbled him selfe greatly before the God of his fathers,

There, while he was suffering, he humbled himself greatly in the presence of Yahweh, the God whom his ancestors [worshiped], and pleaded with Yahweh to help him.

13 And prayed vnto him: and God was entreated of him, and heard his prayer, and brought him againe to Ierusalem into his kingdome: then Manasseh knewe that the Lord was God.

When he prayed, Yahweh heard him and pitied him. So he [allowed him to] return to Jerusalem and [to] rule his kingdom again. Then Manasseh realized that Yahweh is [an all-powerful] God.

14 Nowe after this he built a wall without the citie of Dauid, on the Westside of Gihon in the valley, euen at the entrie of the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it very hie, and put captaines of warre in all the strong cities of Iudah.

Later, Manasseh’s [workers] rebuilt the eastern section of the outer wall around Jerusalem, and [they] made it higher. That section extended from Gihon Spring [north] to the Fish Gate, and around the part of the city that they called Ophel [Hill]. Manasseh also appointed army officers to guard each of the cities in Judah that had walls around them.

15 And he tooke away the strange gods and the image out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Ierusalem, and cast them out of the citie.

Manasseh’s [workers] removed from the temple the idols and the stone statues of gods of other nations. Manasseh also [told them to] remove the altars that they had previously built on Zion Hill and in [other places in] Jerusalem. He had all those things thrown out of the city.

16 Also he prepared the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings, and of thankes, and commanded Iudah to serue the Lord God of Israel.

Then he [told them to] repair the altar of Yahweh, and he offered sacrifices to restore fellowship with Yahweh and to thank him. And he told [the people of] Judah that they must worship [only] Yahweh.

17 Neuerthelesse the people did sacrifice stil in the hie places, but vnto the Lord their God.

The people continued to offer sacrifices on the hilltops, but only to Yahweh their God.

18 Concerning the rest of the actes of Manasseh, and his prayer vnto his God, and the words of the Seers, that spake to him in ye Name of the Lord God of Israel, beholde, they are written in the booke of the Kings of Israel.

The other things that happened while Manasseh was ruling, including his prayer to God and the messages from Yahweh that the prophets gave to him, are written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Israel’.

19 And his prayer and how God was intreated of him, and all his sinne, and his trespasse, and the places wherein he built hie places, and set groues and images (before he was humbled) behold, they are written in the booke of the Seers.

What Manasseh prayed and how God pitied him because he pleaded to God, and also his sins and ways in which he disobeyed God, and the [list of] places where he built shrines and set up poles to [honor the goddess] Asherah and other idols [before he humbled himself], are written in what the prophets wrote.

20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his owne house: and Amon his sonne reigned in his stead.

Manasseh died and was buried in his palace. Then his son Amon became the king [of Judah].

21 Amon was two and twentie yeere olde, when he began to reigne, and reigned two yeere in Ierusalem.

Amon was 22 years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for two years.

22 But he did euill in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed to all the images, which Manasseh his father had made, and serued them,

He did things that Yahweh considered to be evil, like his father Manasseh had done. Amon worshiped all the idols that Manasseh’s [workers] had made.

23 And he humbled not him selfe before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himselfe: but this Amon trespassed more and more.

But he did not humble himself and turn to Yahweh like his father did. So he became more sinful than his father had been.

24 And his seruants conspired against him, and slewe him in his owne house.

Then Amon’s officials made plans to kill him. They assassinated him in his palace.

25 But the people of the land slewe all them that had conspired against King Amon: and the people of the land made Iosiah his sonne King in his steade.

But then the people of Judah killed all those who had assassinated Amon, and they appointed his son Josiah to be their king.