2 Kings 21
King Manasseh of Judah
1Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for 55 years. His mother was Hephzibah. 2Following the disgusting practices of the nations whom the LORD had driven out of the land as his people advanced, Manasseh sinned against the LORD. 3He rebuilt the pagan places of worship that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he built altars for the worship of Baal and made an image of the goddess Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done. Manasseh also worshipped the stars. 4He built pagan altars in the Temple, the place that the LORD had said was where he should be worshipped. 5In the two courtyards of the Temple he built altars for the worship of the stars. 6He sacrificed his son as a burnt offering. He practised divination and magic and consulted fortune tellers and mediums. He sinned greatly against the LORD and stirred up his anger. 7He placed the symbol of the goddess Asherah in the Temple, the place about which the LORD had said to David and his son Solomon: “Here in Jerusalem, in this Temple, is the place that I have chosen out of all the territory of the twelve tribes of Israel as the place where I am to be worshipped. 8And if the people of Israel will obey all my commands and keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them, then I will not allow them to be driven out of the land that I gave to their ancestors.” 9But the people of Judah did not obey the LORD, and Manasseh led them to commit even greater sins than those committed by the nations whom the LORD had driven out of the land as his people advanced.
10Through his servants the prophets the LORD said, 11“King Manasseh has done these disgusting things, things far worse than what the Canaanites did; and with his idols he has led the people of Judah into sin. 12So I, the LORD God of Israel, will bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will be stunned. 13I will punish Jerusalem as I did Samaria, as I did King Ahab of Israel and his descendants. I will wipe Jerusalem clean of its people, as clean as a plate that has been wiped and turned upside down. 14I will abandon the people who survive, and will hand them over to their enemies, who will conquer them and plunder their land. 15I will do this to my people because they have sinned against me and have stirred up my anger from the time their ancestors came out of Egypt to this day.”
16Manasseh killed so many innocent people that the streets of Jerusalem were flowing with blood; he did this in addition to leading the people of Judah into idolatry, causing them to sin against the LORD.
17Everything else that Manasseh did, including the sins he committed, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. 18Manasseh died and was buried in the palace garden, the garden of Uzza, and his son Amon succeeded him as king.
King Amon of Judah
19Amon was 22 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for two years. His mother was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz, from the town of Jotbah. 20Like his father Manasseh, he sinned against the LORD; 21he imitated his father's actions, and he worshipped the idols that his father had worshipped. 22He rejected the LORD, the God of his ancestors, and disobeyed the LORD's commands.
23Amon's officials plotted against him and assassinated him in the palace. 24The people of Judah killed Amon's assassins and made his son Josiah king.
25Everything else that Amon did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. 26Amon was buried in the tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah succeeded him as king.
Good News Translation® with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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