¹¹So the Lord brought the king of Assyria’s army commanders to attack Judah. They captured Manasseh, put hooks in him, placed bronze chains on his hands, and took him to Babylon. ¹²As Manasseh suffered, he begged the Lord his God for help and humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. ¹³When Manasseh prayed, the Lord heard him and had pity on him. So the Lord let him return to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is the true God.

¹⁴After that happened, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of Jerusalem and made it higher. It was in the valley on the west side of the Gihon spring and went to the entrance of the Fish Gate and around the hill of Ophel. Then he put commanders in all the strong, walled cities in Judah.

¹⁵Manasseh removed the idols of other nations, including the idol in the Temple of the Lord. He removed all the altars he had built on the Temple hill and in Jerusalem and threw them out of the city. ¹⁶Then he set up the Lord’s altar and sacrificed on it fellowship offerings and offerings to show thanks to God. Manasseh commanded all the people of Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁷The people continued to offer sacrifices at the places of worship, but their sacrifices were only to the Lord their God. ¹⁸The other things Manasseh did as king, his prayer to his God, and what the seers said to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel—all are recorded in the book of the history of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹Manasseh’s prayer and God’s pity for him, his sins, his unfaithfulness, the places he built for worshiping gods and the Asherah idols before he humbled himself—all are written in the book of the seers.

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