Judah's King Manasseh
1 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king; he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah.
2
He did what was evil in the Lord's sight, imitating the abominations of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.
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He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done; he also worshiped the whole heavenly host and served them.
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He would build altars in the Lord's temple, where the Lord had said, "Jerusalem is where I will put My name."
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He built altars to the whole heavenly host in both courtyards of the Lord's temple.
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He made his son pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a great amount of evil in the Lord's sight, provoking [Him].
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Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah 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.
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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."
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But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did greater evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.
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The Lord spoke through His servants the prophets, saying,
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"Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these abominations-greater evil than the Amorites who preceded him had done-and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin,
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this is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.
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I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line [used on] Samaria and the mason's level [used on] the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl-wiping it and turning it upside down.
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I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies,
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because they have done what is evil in My sight and have provoked Me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.' "
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Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another. This was in addition to his sin he caused Judah to commit so that they did what was evil in the Lord's sight.
Manasseh's Death
17 The rest of the events of Manasseh's [reign], along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are written about in the Historical Record of Judah's Kings.
18
Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon became king in his place.