Manasseh Reigns in Judah
(2 Kings 21:1–9)

1Manasseh was a son of twelve years in his reigning, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. 2And he did evil in the eyes of YHWH, according to the abominations of the nations whom YHWH had cast out before the sons of Israel. 3And he turned and built the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he raised up altars for the Baals, and he made Asherah poles, and he worshiped all the host of the heavens and served them.

4And He built altars in the house of YHWH, of which YHWH had said, “In Jerusalem shall be My name forever.” 5And he built altars for all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of YHWH. 6And he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom. And he practiced sorcery, and used divination, and practiced witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spirists. He multiplied to do evil in the eyes of YHWH, to provoke Him to anger.

7And he set up a carved image of the idol that he 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; 8and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land that I have appointed for your⁺ fathers, only if they are careful to do all that I have commanded them according to all the law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.”

9And Manasseh seduced Judah and those dwelling in Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom YHWH had destroyed before the sons of Israel.

Manasseh’s Repentance and Restoration
(2 Kings 21:10–18)

10And YHWH spoke to Manasseh and to his people, and they did not listen. 11And YHWH brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, and they captured Manasseh with the hooks, and they bound him with the bronze, and took him to Babylon. 12And when he was in affliction, he implored before the face of YHWH his God, and he humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13and he prayed to Him. And He received entreaty of him, and He heard his supplication and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. And Manasseh knew that YHWH, He is God.

14And after this he built an oiter wall for the City of David on the west of Gihon in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate, and it enclosed Ophel and exceedingly heightened it, and he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.

15And he turned aside the gods of the stranger and the idol from the house of YHWH, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of YHWH and in Jerusalem, and he cast them outside of the city. 16And he established the altar of YHWH, and sacrificed on it sacrifices of peace offerings and thank offerings, and he told Judah to serve YHWH, God of Israel. 17But still the people sacrificed on the high places—only to YHWH their God.

18And the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers speaking to him in the name of YHWH, God of Israel, behold, are in the Words of the Kings of Israel.† 19And his prayer and entreaty to Him, and all his sin and trespass, and the places where he built in them high places and set up the Asherah poles and the carved images before he was humbled, indeed they are written among the Words of Hozai.† 20And Manasseh rested with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon Reigns in Judah
(2 Kings 21:19–26)

21Amon was a son of twenty-two years in his reigning, and two years he reigned in Jerusalem. 22And he did evil in the eyes of YHWH, as Manasseh his father had done.

And Amon sacrificed to all the carved images that Manasseh his father had made, and he served them. 23And he did not humble himself before YHWH as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, for Amon himself had multiplied guilt.

24And his servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house. 25And the people of the land struck all those conspiring against King Amon, and the people of the land made king Josiah his son in his place.