2 Chronicles 33 — Read & Listen Online

Manasseh Leads Judah Into Deep Wickedness

Chapter 33.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of our Father, following the detestable practices of the nations our Father had driven out before the people of Israel. He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down; he raised altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles, and he bowed down to all the forces of heaven and worshiped them. He built altars in the house of our Father, the place where our Father had said, "In Jerusalem my name will remain forever." In both courts of the house of our Father he built altars to all the forces of heaven. He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of our Father, provoking him to anger. He took the carved image he had made and set it in the house of our Father, where 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." "And I will never again uproot Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers, if only they are careful to do all that I have commanded them—all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses." But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations our Father had destroyed before the people of Israel.

Our Father spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. So our Father brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. ^a In his distress he sought the favor of our Father and humbled himself deeply before the God of his fathers. And he prayed to him, and our Father was moved by his plea and heard his cry for mercy; he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that our Father is God. ^b

Afterward he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, west of the Gihon spring in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate, and he carried it around the Ophel and raised it to a great height. He also stationed army commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of our Father, along with all the altars he had built on the temple mount and in Jerusalem, and he threw them out of the city. Then he restored the altar of our Father and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and he commanded Judah to serve our Father, the God of Israel. The people, however, still sacrificed at the high places, but only to our Father, their God.

The rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to our Father, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of our Father, the God of Israel, are written in the annals of the kings of Israel. His prayer and how our Father was moved by him, and all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself—all these are written in the records of the seers. Manasseh died and was buried in his palace. And his son Amon became king in his place.

Amon Refuses to Humble Himself

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of our Father, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the carved images Manasseh had made, and he worshiped them. But unlike his father Manasseh, he did not humble himself before our Father; instead, Amon multiplied his guilt. Amon's servants conspired against him and killed him in his palace. But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

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