Historical
33 Manasseh an idolater. 9 He causeth Judah to err. 11 He is led away prisoner into Babylon. 12 He prayeth to the Lord, and is delivered. 14 He abolisheth idolatry, 16 and setteth up true religion. 20 He dieth, and Amon his son succeedeth. 24 Whom his own servants slay.
1 Manasseh was twelve years old, (A)when he began to reign, and he reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem:
2 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the abominations of the heathen, (B)whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he went back and built the high places, (C)which Hezekiah his father had broken down: (D)and he set up altars for Baal, and made groves and worshipped all the host of the heaven, and served them.
4 Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, (E)In Jerusalem shall my Name be forever.
5 And he built altars for all the host of the heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.
6 And he caused his sons to [a]pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom: he gave himself to witchcraft and to charming, and to sorcery, and he used them that had familiar spirits, and soothsayers: he did very much evil in the sight of the Lord to anger him.
7 He put also the carved image, which he had made, in the house of God: whereof God had said to David and to Solomon his son, (F)In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my Name forever.
8 Neither will I (G)make the foot of Israel to remove anymore out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers, so that they take heed, and do all that I have commanded them, according to the Law and statutes and judgments by the [b]hand of Moses.
9 So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 ¶ And the Lord spake to [c]Manasseh and to his people, but they would not regard.
11 Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh and put him in fetters, and bound him in chains, and carried him to Babel.
12 And when he was in tribulation, he prayed to the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
13 And prayed unto him: and God was [d]entreated of him, and heard his prayer, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom: then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
14 Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the West side of [e]Gihon in the valley, even at the entry of the fish gate, and compassed about [f]Ophel, and raised it very high, and put captains of war in all the strong cities of Judah.
15 And he took away the strange gods and the image out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
16 Also he prepared the [g]altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings, and of thanks, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.
17 Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, but unto the [h]Lord their God.
18 ¶ Concerning the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his [i]prayer unto his God, and the words of the Seers, that spake to him in the Name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the Kings of Israel.
19 And his prayer and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set groves and images (before he was humbled) behold, they are written in the book of the [j]Seers.
20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own [k]house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
21 ¶Amon was two and twenty years old, when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem.
22 But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed to all the images, which Manasseh his father had made, and served them.
23 And he humbled not himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself: but this Amon trespassed more and more.
24 And his servants (H)conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.
25 But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against King Amon: and the people of the land made Josiah his son King in his stead.
34 1 Josiah destroyeth the idols. 8 And restoreth the Temple. 14 The book of the Law is found. 21 He sendeth to Huldah the Prophetess for counsel. 27 God heareth his prayer. 31 He maketh a covenant with God.
1 Josiah (I)was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2 And he did uprightly in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of [l]David his father, and bowed neither to the right hand nor to the left.
3 And in the eighth year of his reign (when he was yet a [m]child) he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah, and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and molten images.
4 And they brake down [n]in his sight the altars of Baal, and he caused to cut down the images that were on high upon them: he brake also the groves, and the carved images and the molten images, and stamped them to powder, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
5 Also he burnt the [o]bones of the Priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem.
6 And in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mauls they brake all round about.
7 And when he had [p]destroyed the altars, and the groves, and had broken and stamped to powder the images, and had cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
8 ¶ (J)Then in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the Recorder to repair the house of the Lord his God.
9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high Priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the door, had gathered at the hand of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and of all the residue of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin, and [q]of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 And they put it in the hands of [r]them that should do the work, and had the oversight in the house of the Lord: and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord to repair and amend the house.
11 Even to the workmen and to the builders gave they it to buy hewed stone and timber for couples, and for beams of the [s]houses, which the kings of Judah had destroyed.
12 And the men did the work [t]faithfully, and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah the Levites, of the children of Merari, and Zechariah, and Meshullam, of the children of the Kohathites to set it forward: and of the Levites all that could skill of instruments of music.
13 And they were over the bearers of burdens, and them that set forward all the workmen in every work: and of the Levites were scribes, and officers and porters.
14 ¶ And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the Priest found the [u]book of the Law of the Lord given by the hand of Moses.
15 Therefore Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the chancellor, I have found the book of the Law in the house of the Lord: and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.
16 And Shaphan carried the book to [v]the King, and brought the King word again, saying, All that is committed to the hand of thy servants, that do they.
17 For they have gathered the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and have delivered it into the hands of the overseers, and to the hands of the workmen.
18 Also Shaphan the chancellor declared to the King, saying, Hilkiah the Priest hath given me a book, and Shaphan read it before the King.
19 And when the King had heard the words of the Law, he [w]tare his clothes,
20 And the King commanded Hilkiah and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the chancellor, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying,
21 Go and inquire of the Lord for me, and for the rest in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is fallen upon us, because our [x]fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book.
22 Then Hilkiah and they that the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess the wife of Shallum, the son of [y]Tokhath, the son of [z]Hasrah keeper of the [aa]wardrobe (and she dwelt in Jerusalem within the [ab]college) and they communed hereof with her.
23 And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell ye [ac]the man that sent you to me,
24 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses, that are written in the book which they have read before the King of Judah:
25 Because they have forsaken me, and burnt incense unto other gods, to anger me with all the works of their [ad]hands, therefore shall my wrath fall upon this place, and shall not be quenched.
26 But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The words which thou hast heard, shall come to pass.
27 But because thine heart did [ae]melt, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and tearest thy clothes, and weptest before me, I have also heard it, saith the Lord.
28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be put in thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil, which I will bring upon this [af]place and upon the inhabitants of the same. Thus they brought the King word again.
29 ¶ Then the King sent and gathered all the Elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
30 And the King went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the Priests and the Levites, and all the people from the greatest to the [ag]smallest, and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the Covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.
31 And the King stood by his pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart, and with all his soul, and that he would accomplish the words of the Covenant written in the same book.
32 And he caused all that were found in Jerusalem, and Benjamin to stand to it: and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the Covenant of God, even the God of their fathers.
33 So Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and compelled all [ah]that were found in Israel, to serve the Lord their God: so all his days they turned not back from the Lord God of their fathers.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.