2 Chronicles 33

1 Manasseh was twelve when he became king, and he reigned in for Jerusalem fifty-five years.

Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

2 He did evil in the Lord's sight by following the disgusting religious practices of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord destroyed from before the face of the children of Israel.

3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he made altars for the Baals and set up Asherah poles. He worshiped the sun, moon, and stars and served them.

And he returned and built the high places, which his father Ezekias had pulled down, and set up images to Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.

4 He built altars in the Lord's Temple, about which the Lord had said, “I shall be honored in Jerusalem forever.”

And he built altars in the house of the Lord, concerning which the Lord said, In Jerusalem shall be my name for ever.

5 He built these altars to worship the sun, moon, and stars in both courtyards of the Lord's Temple.

And he built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

6 He sacrificed his children by burning them to death in the Valley of Ben-hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and visited mediums and spiritists. He did a great deal of evil in the Lord's sight, making him angry.

He also passed his children through the fire in the valley of Benennom; and he divined, and used auspices, and sorceries, and appointed those who had divining spirits, and enchanters, and wrought abundant wickedness before the Lord, to provoke him.

7 He took a pagan idol he had made and set it up in God's Temple, about which God had told David and his son Solomon, “I will be honored forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel.

And he set the graven [image], the molten [statue], the idol which he made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever;

8 If the Israelites are careful to follow everything I have instructed them to do—all the laws, commandments, and regulations, given through Moses—then I will not make them leave the land I granted your forefathers.”

and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I gave to their fathers, if only they will take heed to do all things which I have commanded them, according to all the law and the ordinances and the judgments [given] by the hand of Moses.

9 But Manasseh seduced Judah and the people of Jerusalem, leading them to commit even worse sins than the nations the Lord had destroyed before Israelites.

So Manasses led astray Juda and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to do evil beyond all the nations which the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel.

10 The Lord warned Manasseh and his people, but they ignored him.

And the Lord spoke to Manasses, and to his people: but they hearkened not.

11 So the Lord sent the armies of Assyria with their commanders to attack them. The Assyrians captured Manasseh, put a hook through his nose, put bronze shackles on him, and took him away to Babylon.

And the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, and they took Manasses in bonds, and bound him in fetters, and brought him to Babylon.

12 In his misery, asked the Lord God for help, repenting for his arrogance before the God of his forefathers.

And when he was afflicted, he sought the face of the Lord his God, and was greatly humbled before the face of the God of his fathers;

13 He prayed and prayed, and the Lord listened to his pleadings, so the Lord brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh was convinced that the Lord is God.

and he prayed to him: and he hearkened to him, and listened to his cry, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom: and Manasses knew that the Lord he is God.

14 After this, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David from west of Gihon in the valley to the Fish Gate, and around the hill of Ophel, and made it much higher. He also assigned army commanders to all the fortified towns of Judah.

And afterward he built a wall without the city of David, from the southwest southward in the valleys and at the entrance through the fish-gate, as men go out by the gate round about, even as far as Opel: and he raised it much, and set captains of the host in all the fortified cities in Juda.

15 He disposed of the foreign gods and the idol from the Lord's Temple, together with all the altars he had built on the Temple hill and in Jerusalem, throwing all of them outside the city.

And he removed the strange gods, and the graven [image] out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars which he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and without the city.

16 Then he restored the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed friendship offerings and thank offerings on it, and he instructed Judah to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.

And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and offered upon it a sacrifice of peace-offering and thank-offering, and he told Juda to serve the Lord God of Israel.

17 But the people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the high places, only to the Lord their God.

18 The rest of what Manasseh did, along with his prayer to his God and what he was told by the seers who spoke on the Lord's behalf are recorded in the Book of the Kings of Israel.

And the rest of the acts of Manasses, and his prayer to God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the God of Israel,

19 His prayer and how God answered him, as well as all his sins and unfaithfulness, and where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he admitted he was wrong, are recorded in the Records of the Seers.

behold, [they are] in the account of his prayer; and [God] hearkened to him. And all his sins, and his backslidings, and the spots on which he built the high places, and set there groves and graven images, before he repented, behold, they are written in the books of the seers.

20 Manasseh died and was buried at his palace. His son Amon took over as king.

And Manasses slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the garden of his house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

21 Amon was twenty-two when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for two years.

Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

22 He did evil in the Lord's sight just as his father Manasseh had. Amon worshiped and sacrificed to all the idols his father Manasseh had made.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasses did: and Amon sacrificed to all the idols which his father Manasses had made, and served them.

23 However, he did not admit his pride before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done—in fact Amon made his guilt even worse.

And he was not humbled before the Lord as his father Manasses was humbled; for his son Amon abounded in transgression.

24 Then Amon's officials plotted against him and killed him in his palace.

And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his house.

25 But the people of the land killed everyone who had plotted against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king.

And the people of the land slew the men who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josias his son king in his stead.