2 Chronicles 33

Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah in Judah

11Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 22He did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. 3For 3he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; 4he also erected altars for the Baals and made 5Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 46He built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord had said, “My name shall be 7in Jerusalem forever.” 5For he built altars for all the host of heaven in 8the two courts of the house of the Lord. 69He made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery and 10dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. 7Then he put 11the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “12In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; 8and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land 13which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them according to all the law, the statutes and the ordinances given through Moses.” 9Thus Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Manasseh’s Idolatry Rebuked

10The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but 14they paid no attention. 1115Therefore the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with 16hooks, 17bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. 12When 18he was in distress, he entreated the Lord his God and 19humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13When he prayed to Him, 20He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh 21knew that the Lord was God.

14Now after this he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of 22Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the 23Fish Gate; and he encircled the 24Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15He also 25removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. 16He set up the altar of the Lord and sacrificed 26peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. 17Nevertheless 27the people still sacrificed in the high places, although only to the Lord their God.

18Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh even 28his prayer to his God, and the words of 29the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of 30Israel. 19His prayer also and 31how God was entreated by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and 32the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of the 33Hozai. 20So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And Amon his son became king in his place.

Amon Becomes King in Judah

2134Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22He did evil in the sight of the Lord as Manasseh his father 35had done, and Amon sacrificed to all 36the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. 23Moreover, he did not humble himself before the Lord 37as his father Manasseh had 38done, but Amon multiplied guilt. 24Finally 39his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house. 25But the people of the land 40killed all the conspirators against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.