2 Kings 21:1–7

JUDAH’S KING MANASSEH

21Manasseh^a was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.^{b 2}He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,^c imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.^{d 3}He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed^e and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah,^f as King Ahab of Israel had done;^g he also bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky^h and served them. ⁴He built altars in the Lord’s temple,ⁱ where the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where I will put my name.”^{j 5}He built altars to all the stars in the sky^k in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple.^{l 6}He sacrificed his son in the fire,^Am practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists.ⁿ He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him.^o

⁷Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: “I will establish my name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.^p