Manasseh was twelve years old
when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the
abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before
the children of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places
which Hezekiah his father had broken down. He raised up altars
for the Baals, made wooden images, and he worshipped all the hosts
of heaven and served them. He also built altars in the house
of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, in Jerusalem shall
my name be forever. And he built altars for all the
hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. Also
he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the
son of Enum. He practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery.
consulted mediums and spirits, spiritists. He did much evil
in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. He even set a carved
image, the idol which he has made in the house of God, of
which God had 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, I will put my name forever. And I will not again
remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed
for your fathers, only if they are careful to do all that I
have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes
and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. So Manasseh seduced
Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than
the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children
of Israel. And the Lord spoke to Manasseh
and his people, but they would not listen. Therefore the Lord
brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria,
who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters,
and carried him off to Babylon. Now when he was in affliction,
he implored the Lord his God. humbled himself greatly before
the God of his fathers, and prayed to him, and he received his entreaty,
heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his
kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. After this
he built a wall outside the city of David on the west side of
Gihon in the valley, as far as the entrance of the fish gate,
And it enclosed Hophel, and he raised it to a very great height.
Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of
Judah. He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house
of the Lord and all the altars that he had built in the mount
of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem. And he cast them
out of the city. He also repaired the altar of
the Lord, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it. and
commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. Nevertheless,
the people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to
the Lord their God. Now the rest of the Acts of Manasseh,
his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke
to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel. Indeed, they are
written in the book of the kings of Israel. Also his prayer and
how God received his entreaty and all his sin. and trespassed,
and the sites where he built high places and set up wooden
images and carved images, before he was humbled. Indeed, they
are written among the saints of Josiah. So Manasseh rested
with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. Then his son Ammon reigned in
his place. Ammon was twenty-two years old
when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. But he
did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh
had done. For Ammon sacrificed all the carved images which his
father Manasseh had made, and served them. And he did not humble
himself before the Lord, as his father Manasseh had humbled himself.
But Ammon trespassed More and more. Then his servants conspired
against him and killed him in his own house. But the people
of the land executed all those who had conspired against King
Ammon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king
in his place.
