2 Kings 21

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to rule. He ruled Judah for 55 years from Jerusalem. His mother was Hephzibah.

Manasses [was] twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name [was] Apsiba.

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

And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel.

3 He commanded his workers to rebuild the shrines [for worshiping Yahweh] that his father Hezekiah had destroyed [because they were not in the place that Yahweh had said they should worship him]. He directed his workers to build altars for worshiping Baal. He made [a statue of the goddess] Asherah, like Ahab the king of Israel had done [previously]. And Manasseh worshiped [DOU] the stars.

And he built again the high places, which Ezekias his father [had] demolished; and set up an altar to Baal, and made groves as Achaab king of Israel [made them]; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.

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

And he built an altar in the house of the Lord, whereas he had said, In Jerusalem I will place my name.

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

And he built an altar to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

6 He even sacrificed his own son by burning [him in a fire]. He performed rituals to practice sorcery and magic rituals. He also went to people who consulted the spirits of dead people to find out what would happen in the future. He did many things that Yahweh considered to be extremely evil, things that caused Yahweh to become very angry.

And he caused his sons to pass through the fire, and used divination and auspices, and made groves, and multiplied wizards, so as to do that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

7 He placed the statue of the goddess Asherah in the temple, the place about which Yahweh had said to David and his son Solomon, “My temple will be here in Jerusalem. This is the city that I have chosen from all the territory of the twelve tribes of Israel, where I want people to worship me, forever.

And he set up the graven image of the grove in the house of which the Lord 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 even place my name for ever.

8 And if the Israeli people obey all my commands and all the laws that I gave to Moses, the man who served me [very well], I will not again force them to leave this land that I gave to their ancestors.”

And I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I gave to their fathers, [even of those] who shall keep all that I commanded, according to all the commandments which my servant Moses commanded them.

9 But the people did not heed Yahweh. And Manasseh persuaded them to commit sins that are more evil than the sins that were committed by the people of the nations that Yahweh had expelled from the land as the Israeli people advanced.

But they hearkened not; and Manasses led them astray to do evil in the sight of the Lord, beyond the nations whom the Lord utterly destroyed from before the children of Israel.

10 [These are some of the things that] the prophets said many times, messages that Yahweh had given them:

And the Lord spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,

11 “Manasseh, the king of Judah, has done these abominable things, things that are much worse than the things that the Amor people-group did in this land long ago. He has persuaded the people of Judah to sin by [worshiping] idols.

Forasmuch as Manasses the king of Juda has wrought all these evil abominations, beyond all that the Amorite did, who lived before [him], and has led Juda also into sin by their idols,

12 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh, the God whom you Israeli people worship, say: I will the cause the people of Jerusalem and the rest of Judah to experience great disasters. It will be terrible, with the result that everyone who hears about it will be stunned [MTY].

[it shall] not [be] so. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I bring calamities upon Jerusalem and Juda, so that both the ears of every one that hears shall tingle.

13 I will judge and punish [MET] the people of Jerusalem like I punished the family of King Ahab [of Israel]. I will (wipe Jerusalem clean/remove all the people from Jerusalem), like [MET] people wipe a plate and then turn it upside down [after they have finished eating, to show that they are now satisfied].

And I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measure of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Achaab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a jar is wiped, and turned upside down in the wiping.

14 And I will abandon the people who remain alive, and I will allow their enemies to conquer them and steal everything valuable from their land.

And I will reject the remnant of my inheritance, and will deliver them into the hands of their enemies; and they shall be for a plunder and for a spoil to all their enemies:

15 I will do this because my people have done things that I consider to be very evil, things which have caused me to become very angry. They have caused me to become angry continually, ever since their ancestors left Egypt.”

forasmuch as they have done wickedly in my sight, and have provoked me from the day that I brought out their fathers out of Egypt, even until this day.

16 Manasseh [commanded his officials to] kill many innocent people in Jerusalem, with the result that their blood flowed in the streets. He did this in addition to persuading the people of Judah to sin against Yahweh [by worshiping idols].

Moreover Manasses shed very much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem [with it] from one end to the other, beside his sins with which he caused Juda to sin, in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord.

17 [If you want to know more about] all the things that Manasseh did, they are written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.

And the rest of the acts of Manasses, and all that he did, and his sin which he sinned, [are] not these things written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Juda?

18 Manasseh died [EUP] and was buried in the garden outside his palace, the garden that Uzza [had made]. Then Manasseh’s son Amon became the king.

And Manasses slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, [even] in the garden of Oza: and Amos his son reigned in his stead.

19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king. He ruled Judah from Jerusalem for [only] two years. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth. She was from Jotbah [town], and was the granddaughter of Haruz.

Twenty and two years old [was] Amos when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name [was] Mesollam, daughter of Arus of Jeteba.

20 Amon did many things that Yahweh considered to be evil, like his father Manasseh had done.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasses his father did.

21 He imitated the behavior of his father, and he worshiped the same idols that his father had worshiped [DOU].

And he walked in all the way in which his father walked, and served the idols which his father served, and worshipped them.

22 He abandoned Yahweh, the God whom his ancestors [had worshiped], and did not behave as Yahweh wanted him to.

And he forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord.

23 Then one day some of his officials plotted to kill him. They assassinated him in the palace.

And the servants of Amos conspired against him, and slew the king in his house.

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

And the people of the land slew all that had conspired against king Amos; and the people of the land made Josias king in his room.

25 [If you want to read about] [RHQ] the other things that Amon did, they are written in the scroll called ‘The History of the Kings of Judah’.

And the rest of the acts of Amos, [even] all that he did, behold, [are] not these written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Juda?

26 Amon was also buried in the tomb in the garden that Uzza [had made]. Then Amon’s son Josiah became the king.

And they buried him in his tomb in the garden of Oza: and Josias his son reigned in his stead.