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2 Chronicles 33
Manasseh Reigns Wickedly
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD according to the detestable practices of the nations whom the LORD had dispossessed before the children of Israel. He rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had torn down, raised altars for the Baals, made Asherah poles, and bowed down to all the host of the heavens and served them. He built altars in the house of the LORD, concerning which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem my name shall be forever.” He built altars to all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of the LORD. He made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, practiced soothsaying, divination, and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He multiplied doing what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger. He set the carved image of the idol that he had 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 chose from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the ground that I appointed for your ancestors, if only they are careful to do all that I commanded them, all the instruction, statutes, and judgments by the hand of Moses.” Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.
Manasseh Is Taken to Babylon
The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they did not listen. Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and brought him to Babylon.
Manasseh Humbles Himself
When he was in distress, he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. He prayed to him, and God was entreated by him and heard his plea and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD—he is God.
Manasseh Reforms Jerusalem
After this he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate, encircling Ophel, and he made it very high. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities of Judah. He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. He restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed upon it offerings of well-being and thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to the LORD their God.
Manasseh’s Death
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, the God of Israel, look, they are in the acts of the kings of Israel. His prayer and how God was entreated by him, all his sin and his unfaithfulness, and the places where he built high places and set up the Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself, look, they are written in the words of Hozai. Manasseh lay down with his ancestors, and they buried him in his house. Amon his son became king in his place.
Amon Reigns and Is Assassinated
Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD as Manasseh his father had done. Amon sacrificed to all the carved images that Manasseh his father had made and served them. He did not humble himself before the LORD as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon multiplied guilt. His servants conspired against him and put him to death in his house. But the people of the land struck all who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.