^aManasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for 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 his father Hezekiah had torn down; ^bhe also set up altars for the Baals and made ¹Asherim, and he worshiped all the heavenly ²lights 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 He built altars for all the heavenly ¹lights in ^athe two courtyards of the house of the LORD. 6 ^aHe also 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 his son Solomon, “^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 remove the foot of Israel again from the land ^awhich I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will take care to do everything that I have commanded them according to all the Law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.” 9 So Manasseh encouraged Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the sons of Israel.

10 So the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but ^athey paid no attention. 11 ^aTherefore the LORD brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, ^bbound him with bronze chains, and led him to Babylon. 12 When ^ahe was in distress, he appeased the LORD his God and ^bhumbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 When he prayed to Him, ^aHe was moved by him and heard his pleading, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh ^bknew that the LORD alone is God.

14 Now after this he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of ^aGihon, in the valley, up to the entrance of the ^bFish Gate; and he encircled the ^cOphel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah. 15 He also ^aremoved the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. 16 He set up the altar of the LORD and sacrificed ^apeace offerings and thanksgiving offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. 17 However, ^athe people still sacrificed on the high places, although only to the LORD their God.

18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and ^ahis prayer to his God, and the words of ^bthe seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of ^cIsrael. 19 His prayer also and ^ahow God was moved by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and ^bthe sites on which he built high places and erected the ¹Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of ²Hozai. 20 So Manasseh ¹lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And his son Amon became king in his place.

21 ^aAmon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. 22 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his father Manasseh ^ahad done, and Amon sacrificed to all ^bthe carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. 23 Furthermore, he did not humble himself before the LORD ^aas his father Manasseh had ¹done, but Amon multiplied his guilt. 24 Finally, ^ahis servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house. 25 But the people of the land ¹killed all the conspirators against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.