2 Chronicles 33

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

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

2 He did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH, after the abominations of the nations whom YHWH 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 built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baals, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served 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 He built altars in the house of YHWH, of which YHWH said, "My name shall be in Jerusalem forever."

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 He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of YHWH.

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

6 He also made his children to pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom; and he practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums, and spiritists: he worked much evil in the sight of YHWH, to provoke him to anger.

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 set the engraved image of the idol, which he had made, in God's house, of which God 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 forever:

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 any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances given by 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 Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than the nations whom YHWH destroyed before the children of Israel did.

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 YHWH spoke to Manasseh, and to his people; but they gave no heed.

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

11 Therefore YHWH brought on them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

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 When he was in distress, he begged YHWH his God, and humbled himself 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 He prayed to him; and he was entreated by him, and heard his petition, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that YHWH 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 Now after this he built an outer wall to the City of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the Fish Gate; and he encircled Ophel with it, and raised it up to a very great height: and he put valiant captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.

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 He took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of YHWH, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of the house of YHWH, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.

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 He built up the altar of YHWH, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve YHWH, the 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 Nevertheless the people sacrificed still in the high places, but only to YHWH their God.

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

18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of YHWH, the God of Israel, look, they are written among the acts 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 His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places, and set up the Asherim and the engraved images, before he humbled himself, look, they are written in the Record 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 the garden of his own house. And Amon his son reigned in his place.

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

21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

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

22 He did that which was evil in the sight of YHWH, as did Manasseh his father; and Amon sacrificed to all the engraved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served 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 He did not humble himself before YHWH, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same 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 His servants conspired against him, and put him to death in his own house.

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

25 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

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