II Kings 21 The Wickedness of Manasseh and the Threats of God

 II Kings 21

The Wickedness of Manasseh and the Threats of God

1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephshibah.

2 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out of their possession before the children of Israel.

3 For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done; and he worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.

4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem I will put my Name.

5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

6 He even made his son pass through the fire, and used divination by the clouds, and used omens, and he appointed soothsayers and wizards, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. 

7 He also made a carved image of the Asherah which he had made in the house of which the Lord had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. 

8 And I will not make the foot of Israel move again from this land which I gave to their fathers, only if they observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded them. 

9 But they would not listen, for Manasseh led them astray, so that they did worse than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. 

10 Then the Lord spoke through his servants the prophets, saying: 

11 Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations, doing worse than the Amorites who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with their idols; 

12 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it will have both his ears tingling. 

13 I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab; and I will cleanse Jerusalem, as a man cleans a dish and turns it over on his face. 

14 And I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hand of their enemies; and they will become a plunder and a spoil for all their enemies. 

15 For they have done evil in my sight and provoked me to anger, from the day their fathers came out of Egypt even to this day. 

16 Moreover, Manasseh also shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, doing evil in the sight of the Lord.

 17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin which he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 

18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzzah: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.