1
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he was king for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2
He did what the Lord said was wrong. He did the hateful things the nations had done -- the nations that the Lord had forced out of the land ahead of the Israelites.
3
Manasseh's father, Hezekiah, had torn down the places where gods were worshiped, but Manasseh rebuilt them. He also built altars for the Baal gods, and he made Asherah idols and worshiped all the stars of the sky and served them.
4
The Lord had said about the Temple, "I will be worshiped in Jerusalem forever," but Manasseh built altars in the Temple of the Lord.
5
He built altars to worship the stars in the two courtyards of the Temple of the Lord.
6
He made his children pass through fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He practiced magic and witchcraft and told the future by explaining signs and dreams. He got advice from mediums and fortune-tellers. He did many things the Lord said were wrong, which made the Lord angry.
7
Manasseh carved an idol and put it in the Temple of God. God had said to David and his son Solomon about the Temple, "I will be worshiped forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel.
8
I will never again make the Israelites leave the land I gave to their ancestors. But they must obey everything I have commanded them in all the teachings, rules, and commands I gave them through Moses."
9
But Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do wrong. They did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.
10
The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not listen.