2 Kings 21:1-18

Christian Standard Bible

Judah’s King Manasseh

21 Manasseh^(A) was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.^{(B) 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 destroyed^(E) 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 sky^(H) 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 sky^(K) 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)

¹⁰ The Lord said through his servants the prophets, ¹¹ “Since King Manasseh of Judah has committed all these detestable acts^(S)—worse evil than the Amorites^(T) who preceded him had done—and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin, ¹² this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.^{[b](U) 13} I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason’s level used on the house of Ahab,^(V) and I will wipe^(W) Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ I will abandon the remnant^(X) of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have angered me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.’”^(Y)

¹⁶ Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another.^(Z) This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit, so that they did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.

Manasseh’s Death

¹⁷ The rest^(AA) of the events of Manasseh’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.^{(AB) 18} Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon became king in his place.