Now then, Lord, God of Israel, keep to Your servant David, my father, that which You promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay attention to their way, to walk in My Law as you have walked before Me.’

then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know—for You alone know the hearts of the sons of mankind—

He acted wisely and distributed some of his sons through all the territories of Judah and Benjamin to all the fortified cities, and he gave them plenty of provisions. And he sought many wives for them.

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything good regarding me, but always bad. He is Micaiah the son of Imlah.” But Jehoshaphat said, “May the king not say so.”

As to his sons and the many pronouncements against him and the rebuilding of the house of God, behold, they are written in the treatise of the Book of the Kings. Then his son Amaziah became king in his place.

But a man of God came to him saying, “O king, do not let the army of Israel come with you, for the Lord is not with Israel nor with any of the sons of Ephraim.

And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah the second to the king.

Idols Are Destroyed

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, broke the memorial stones in pieces, cut down the Asherim and pulled down the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the sons of Israel returned to their cities, each to his possession.

So Hezekiah lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper section of the tombs of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And his son Manasseh became king in his place.

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.