Manasseh Is King of Judah
4 Kingdoms 21, verse 1. Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he ruled for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 2. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the sons of Israel. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 3. For he brought back and built the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He raised up an altar for Baal, and as Ahab king of Israel did, he made a wooden image. He worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 4. He also built an altar in the house of the Lord, of which He had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My name.” 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 5. And he built an altar for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 6. Also, he made his sons pass through the fire and practiced divination. He read omens from the flight and cries of birds, and consulted wizards, and multiplied those familiar with them, to do evil in the sight of the Lord. He provoked Him to anger. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 7. He even took a carved image of the wooden image and placed it in the house of which the Lord 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. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 8. But to those who shall keep all that I command, according to all the commandments which my servant Moses commanded them, I will not again let the foot of Israel be shaken from the land I gave their fathers.” 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 9. But they paid no attention as Manasseh led them astray. They did more evil than the nations whom the Lord had removed from before the sons of Israel. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 10. And the Lord spoke by His servants the prophets, saying, 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 11. “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, acting more wickedly than all the Amorites who were before him, and because he made Judah sin with his idols, 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 12. it shall not be so. Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Behold! I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 13. And I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes an alabaster vessel, wiping it and turning it upside down. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 14. So I will drive away the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become victims of plunder by all their enemies. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 15. For they have done evil in My eyes and have provoked Me to anger since the day I brought their fathers out of Egypt to this day.’” 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 16. Indeed, Manasseh poured out large quantities of innocent blood until it filled Jerusalem from end to end. This in addition to the sins which he led Judah to commit, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 17. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, all he did, and all the sins he committed, are these not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 18. So Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza. Then his son Amon reigned in his place.
Amon Is King of Judah
4 Kingdoms 21, verse 19. Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled for two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 20. And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 21. And he walked in all the ways that his father walked, and he served the idols his father served, and worshiped them. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 22. He forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 23. Then servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 24. But the people of the land put to death all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place. 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 25. Now the rest of the acts Amon did, are these not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? 4 Kingdoms 21, verse 26. And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. Then Josiah his son reigned in his place.