2 Chronicles 33

Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah in Judah

11Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for 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 his father Hezekiah had torn down; 4he also set up altars for the Baals and made 5Asherim, and he worshiped all the heavenly 6lights and served them. 47He built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord had said, “My name shall be 8in Jerusalem forever.” 5He built altars for all the heavenly 9lights in 10the two courtyards of the house of the Lord. 611He also made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, and 12dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. 7Then he put 13the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “14In 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 remove the foot of Israel again from the land 15which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will take care to do everything that I have commanded them according to all the Law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.” 9So Manasseh encouraged 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

10So the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but 16they paid no attention. 1117Therefore the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, 18bound him with bronze chains, and led him to Babylon. 12When 19he was in distress, he appeased the Lord his God and 20humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13When he prayed to Him, 21He was moved by him and heard his pleading, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh 22knew that the Lord alone is God.

14Now after this he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of 23Gihon, in the valley, up to the entrance of the 24Fish Gate; and he encircled the 25Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah. 15He also 26removed 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 27peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. 17However, 28the people still sacrificed on the high places, although only to the Lord their God.

18Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and 29his prayer to his God, and the words of 30the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of 31Israel. 19His prayer also and 32how God was moved by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and 33the sites on which he built high places and erected the 34Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of 35Hozai. 20So Manasseh 36lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And his son Amon became king in his place.

Amon Becomes King in Judah

2137Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. 22He did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh 38had done, and Amon sacrificed to all 39the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. 23Furthermore, he did not humble himself before the Lord 40as his father Manasseh had 41done, but Amon multiplied his guilt. 24Finally, 42his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house. 25But the people of the land 43killed all the conspirators against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.