2 Chronicles 33
1 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became the king [of Judah], and he ruled from Jerusalem for 55 years.
| בן שתים עשרה שנה מנשה במלכו וחמשים וחמש שנה מלך בירושלם׃ |
2 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].
| ויעש הרע בעיני יהוה כתועבות הגוים אשר הוריש יהוה מפני בני ישראל׃ |
3 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.
| וישב ויבן את הבמות אשר נתץ יחזקיהו אביו ויקם מזבחות לבעלים ויעש אשרות וישתחו לכל צבא השמים ויעבד אתם׃ |
4 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.”
| ובנה מזבחות בבית יהוה אשר אמר יהוה בירושלם יהיה שמי לעולם׃ |
5 He directed that altars for [worshiping] all the stars be built in both of the courtyards outside the temple.
| ויבן מזבחות לכל צבא השמים בשתי חצרות בית יהוה׃ |
6 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.
| והוא העביר את בניו באש בגי בן הנם ועונן ונחש וכשף ועשה אוב וידעוני הרבה לעשות הרע בעיני יהוה להכעיסו׃ |
7 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.
| וישם את פסל הסמל אשר עשה בבית האלהים אשר אמר אלהים אל דויד ואל שלמה בנו בבית הזה ובירושלם אשר בחרתי מכל שבטי ישראל אשים את שמי לעילום׃ |
8 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.”
| ולא אוסיף להסיר את רגל ישראל מעל האדמה אשר העמדתי לאבתיכם רק אם ישמרו לעשות את כל אשר צויתים לכל התורה והחקים והמשפטים ביד משה׃ |
9 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].
| ויתע מנשה את יהודה וישבי ירושלם לעשות רע מן הגוים אשר השמיד יהוה מפני בני ישראל׃ |
10 Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and the people of Judah, but they paid no attention.
| וידבר יהוה אל מנשה ואל עמו ולא הקשיבו׃ |
11 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.
| ויבא יהוה עליהם את שרי הצבא אשר למלך אשור וילכדו את מנשה בחחים ויאסרהו בנחשתים ויוליכהו בבלה׃ |
12 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.
| וכהצר לו חלה את פני יהוה אלהיו ויכנע מאד מלפני אלהי אבתיו׃ |
13 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.
| ויתפלל אליו ויעתר לו וישמע תחנתו וישיבהו ירושלם למלכותו וידע מנשה כי יהוה הוא האלהים׃ |
14 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.
| ואחרי כן בנה חומה חיצונה לעיר דויד מערבה לגיחון בנחל ולבוא בשער הדגים וסבב לעפל ויגביהה מאד וישם שרי חיל בכל הערים הבצרות ביהודה׃ |
15 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.
| ויסר את אלהי הנכר ואת הסמל מבית יהוה וכל המזבחות אשר בנה בהר בית יהוה ובירושלם וישלך חוצה לעיר׃ |
16 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.
| ויכן את מזבח יהוה ויזבח עליו זבחי שלמים ותודה ויאמר ליהודה לעבוד את יהוה אלהי ישראל׃ |
17 The people continued to offer sacrifices on the hilltops, but only to Yahweh their God.
| אבל עוד העם זבחים בבמות רק ליהוה אלהיהם׃ |
18 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’.
| ויתר דברי מנשה ותפלתו אל אלהיו ודברי החזים המדברים אליו בשם יהוה אלהי ישראל הנם על דברי מלכי ישראל׃ |
19 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.
| ותפלתו והעתר לו וכל חטאתו ומעלו והמקמות אשר בנה בהם במות והעמיד האשרים והפסלים לפני הכנעו הנם כתובים על דברי חוזי׃ |
20 Manasseh died and was buried in his palace. Then his son Amon became the king [of Judah].
| וישכב מנשה עם אבתיו ויקברהו ביתו וימלך אמון בנו תחתיו׃ |
21 Amon was 22 years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for two years.
| בן עשרים ושתים שנה אמון במלכו ושתים שנים מלך בירושלם׃ |
22 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.
| ויעש הרע בעיני יהוה כאשר עשה מנשה אביו ולכל הפסילים אשר עשה מנשה אביו זבח אמון ויעבדם׃ |
23 But he did not humble himself and turn to Yahweh like his father did. So he became more sinful than his father had been.
| ולא נכנע מלפני יהוה כהכנע מנשה אביו כי הוא אמון הרבה אשמה׃ |
24 Then Amon’s officials made plans to kill him. They assassinated him in his palace.
| ויקשרו עליו עבדיו וימיתהו בביתו׃ |
25 But then the people of Judah killed all those who had assassinated Amon, and they appointed his son Josiah to be their king.
| ויכו עם הארץ את כל הקשרים על המלך אמון וימליכו עם הארץ את יאשיהו בנו תחתיו׃ |
