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 destroyede 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 skyh and served them. 4 He 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 skyk in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple.l 6 He sacrificed his son in the fire,A,m 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

7 Manasseh 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 8 I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land I gave to their ancestors if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole law that my servant Moses commanded them.”q 9 But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.r