Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah in Judah

1 aManasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

2 aHe did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel.

3 For ahe rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; bhe also erected altars for the Baals and made 1Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

4 aHe built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord had said, “My name shall be bin Jerusalem forever.”

5 For he built altars for all the host of heaven in athe two courts of the house of the Lord.

6 aHe made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery and bdealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.

7 Then he put athe carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “bIn this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever;

8 and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land awhich I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them according to all the law, the statutes and the ordinances given through Moses.”

9 Thus Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.