2 Kings, Chapter 21:
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Verses from 2 Kings, Chapter 21 of the book of 1 Samuel in the Bible.
Manasseh is king of Judah
- 1. In those days Manasseh was only twelve years old when he assumed the kingship, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.
- 2. However, he did evil in the sight of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had expelled before the children of Israel.
- 3. He rebuilt the idolatrous altars that his father, Hezekiah, had torn down, erected altars for Baal, and made a sacred pole for Asherah, just as Ahab, king of Israel, did. He worshiped and served all the heavenly hosts, bowing down before them.
- 4. Manasseh also built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.”
- 5. In the two courts of the temple of the Lord he built altars for all the heavenly hosts.
- 6. He even sacrificed his own son in fire, practiced witchcraft, divination and resorted to mediums and necromancers. He did many things that displeased the Lord, provoking his anger.
- 7. Manasseh also placed the sacred pole that he had made in the temple, about which the Lord had said to David and his son Solomon: “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name for ever.
- 8. I will not make the people of Israel wander again from the land that I have given them, if only they are careful to do everything I have commanded them and to fulfill all the Law that my servant Moses gave them.”
- 9. However, the people would not listen and strayed from the straight path. Manasseh led them to commit even more evil than the nations that the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.
- 10. Then the Lord spoke through his servants the prophets, saying:
- 11. “Because Manasseh king of Judah committed these abominations, acting more wickedly than the Amorites before him, and caused Judah also to sin with its idols,
- 12. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will bring upon Jerusalem and Judah a calamity so great that the ears of everyone who hears about it will ring.
- 13. I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the family of Ahab. I will clean Jerusalem like cleaning a plate, turning it upside down.
- 14. I will abandon the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. They will be stripped and plundered by all their adversaries,
- 15. For they have done evil in my sight and provoked my wrath from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.”
- 16. Furthermore, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that it filled Jerusalem from one end to the other. In addition to leading Judah to sin, doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.
- 17. The other events of Manasseh's reign and everything he did, including the sin he committed, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah.
- 18. Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his palace, in the garden of Uzzah. His son Ammon became king in his place.
Ammon is king of Judah
- 19. Ammon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Mesulemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.
- 20. He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the example of his father Manasseh.
- 21. He completely followed his father's path, worshiping and serving the idols that his father had worshiped, bowing down to them.
- 22. He abandoned the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and did not follow the way of the Lord.
- 23. The officials of Ammon conspired against him and killed him in his own palace.
- 24. Then the people killed all who had conspired against King Ammon and proclaimed his son Josiah king in his place.
- 25. The rest of the events of Ammon's reign and everything he did are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Judah.
- 26. Ammon was buried in the tomb in the garden of Uzzah, and his son Josiah became king in his place.
