Manasseh Is King of Judah
2 Chronicles 33, verse 1. Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 2. But he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the Gentiles whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel, 2 Chronicles 33, verse 3. for he turned and rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had broken down. He raised up pillars for the Baals and made groves and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 4. He also built altars in the house of the Lord, where the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall My name be forever.” 2 Chronicles 33, verse 5. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 6. Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. He practiced soothsaying and bird-augury and sorcery, and consulted mediums and divining spirits. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord and provoked Him to anger. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 7. He even set a carved image and a cast image, idols he had made, in the house of God, where God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I chose out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever, 2 Chronicles 33, verse 8. and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land I gave your fathers; provided they are careful to do all I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.” 2 Chronicles 33, verse 9. So Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray to do more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the sons of Israel.
Manasseh's Repentance
2 Chronicles 33, verse 10. And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 11. Therefore the Lord brought against them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with bonds, bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 12. Now when he was in affliction, he sought the face of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 2 Chronicles 33, verse 13. and prayed to Him. And the Lord received his entreaty, heard his cry, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 14. After this, he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the gate. It enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height. Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 15. He took away the foreign gods and the carved idols from the house of the Lord, and destroyed all the altars he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem outside the city. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 16. He also repaired the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it. He commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 17. Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to the Lord their God.
Manasseh's Death
2 Chronicles 33, verse 18. The rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel—indeed of the word 2 Chronicles 33, verse 19. of his prayer and how God heard and responded to him, to all his sins and rebellions, and to the sites where he built high places and established groves and carved images, before he returned—indeed this is written among the sayings of the seers. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 20. So Manasseh rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the garden of his house. Then his son Amon reigned in his place.
Amon Is King of Judah
2 Chronicles 33, verse 21. Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 22. But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done, for Amon sacrificed to all the idols his father Manasseh had made and served them. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 23. And he did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had humbled himself, but Amon trespassed more and more. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 24. Then his servants conspired against him and killed him in his house. 2 Chronicles 33, verse 25. But the people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.