2 Kings 21

21 ¹ Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. ² He did what was evil in the sight of our Father, following the detestable practices of the nations he had driven out before the people of Israel. ³ He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he raised up altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he bowed down to all the host of heaven and worshiped them. ⁴ He built altars in the house of our Father, the very place of which he had said, "In Jerusalem I will put my name." ⁵ In both courts of the house of our Father he built altars to all the host of heaven. ⁶ He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of our Father, provoking him to anger. ⁷ The carved image of Asherah that he had made he set up in the house of which our Father had said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. ⁸ I will never again make the feet of Israel wander from the land I gave to their ancestors, if only they are careful to do all that I have commanded them, keeping the whole Law that my servant Moses commanded them." ⁹ But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations our Father had destroyed before the people of Israel.

The Father Warns of Coming Judgment

¹⁰ So our Father spoke through his servants the prophets:

¹¹ "Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable acts, doing more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and has led Judah into sin with his idols, ¹² therefore this is what our Father, the God of Israel, says: I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. ¹³ I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab; I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies; they will become plunder and spoil to all their foes, ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this very day."

¹⁶ Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, besides the sin into which he led Judah, so that they did what was evil in the sight of our Father.

¹⁷ As for the other events of Manasseh's reign, and all that he did, and the sin he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁸ Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his palace, the garden of Uzza, and his son Amon became king in his place.

Amon Reigns and Abandons the Father

¹⁹ Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. ²⁰ He did what was evil in the sight of our Father, as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹ He followed every way his father had walked; he served the idols his father had served and bowed down to them. ²² He abandoned our Father, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in the way of our Father. ²³ Amon's officials conspired against him and killed the king in his own palace. ²⁴ But the people of the land struck down all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place. ²⁵ As for the other events of Amon's reign, what he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁶ He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.