2 Kings 21:1–7

Manasseh Reigns in Judah

21^xManasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. ²And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^yaccording to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ³For he rebuilt the high places ^zthat Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made ^aan Asherah, ^bas Ahab king of Israel had done, ^cand worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. ^4dAnd he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^e“In Jerusalem will I put my name.” ⁵And he built altars ^cfor all the host of heaven in ^fthe two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6gAnd he burned his son as an offering¹ and ^hused fortune-telling and ⁱomens and dealt ^jwith mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁷And the carved image of ^aAsherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, ^eand in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.