2 Kings 21:1–26

¹Twelve years old was Ma‧nas′seh when he began to reign, and for fifty‐five years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Heph′zi‧bah.²And he proceeded to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to the detestable things of the nations that Jehovah had driven out from before the sons of Israel.³So he built again the high places that Hez‧e‧ki′ah his father had destroyed, and set up altars to Ba′al and made a sacred pole, just as A′hab the king of Israel had done; and he began to bow down to all the army of the heavens and to serve them.⁴And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, respecting which Jehovah had said: “In Jerusalem I shall put my name.”⁵And he went on to build altars to all the army of the heavens in two courtyards of the house of Jehovah.⁶And he made his own son pass through the fire, and he practiced magic and looked for omens and made spirit mediums and professional foretellers of events. He did on a large scale what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, to offend him.

⁷Further, he put the carved image of the sacred pole that he had made in the house of which Jehovah had said to David and to Sol′o‧mon his son: “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I shall put my name to time indefinite.⁸And I shall not again make the foot of Israel wander from the ground that I gave to their forefathers, provided only they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, even concerning all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.”⁹And they did not listen, but Ma‧nas′seh kept seducing them to do what was bad more than the nations whom Jehovah had annihilated from before the sons of Israel.

¹⁰And Jehovah kept speaking by means of his servants the prophets, saying:¹¹“For the reason that Ma‧nas′seh the king of Judah has done these detestable things, he has acted more wickedly than all that the Am′or‧ites did that were prior to him, and he proceeded to make even Judah sin with his dungy idols.¹²That is why this is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘Here I am bringing a calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, of which if anyone hears both his ears will tingle.¹³And I shall certainly stretch upon Jerusalem the measuring line applied to Sa‧mar′i‧a and also the leveling instrument applied to the house of A′hab; and I shall simply wipe Jerusalem clean just as one wipes the handleless bowl clean, wiping it clean and turning it upside down.¹⁴And I shall indeed forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they will simply become plunder and pillage to all their enemies,¹⁵for the reason that they did what was bad in my eyes and were continually offending me from the day that their forefathers came out from Egypt down to this day.’”

¹⁶And there was also innocent blood that Ma‧nas′seh shed in very great quantity, until he had filled Jerusalem from end to end, besides his sin with which he caused Judah to sin by doing what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah.¹⁷As for the rest of the affairs of Ma‧nas′seh and all that he did and his sin with which he sinned, are they not written in the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah?¹⁸Finally Ma‧nas′seh lay down with his forefathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uz′za; and A′mon his son began to reign in place of him.

¹⁹Twenty‐two years old was A′mon when he began to reign, and for two years he reigned in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Me‧shul′le‧meth the daughter of Ha′ruz from Jot′bah.²⁰And he continued to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, just as Ma‧nas′seh his father had done.²¹And he kept walking in all the way that his father had walked, and he continued serving the dungy idols that his father had served and bowing down to them.²²Thus he left Jehovah the God of his forefathers, and he did not walk in the way of Jehovah.²³Eventually servants of A′mon conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house.²⁴But the people of the land struck down all the conspirators against King A′mon. Then the people of the land made Jo‧si′ah his son king in place of him.²⁵As for the rest of the affairs of A′mon, what he did, are they not written in the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Judah?²⁶So they buried him in his grave in the garden of Uz′za; and Jo‧si′ah his son began to reign in place of him.