1Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel, 3For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem shall My name be forever." 5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 6And he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He also observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger. 7And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. 8Nor will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have set apart for your fathers--if only they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses." 9But Manasseh led astray Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and caused them to do worse than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

10And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and to His people, but they would not listen. 11Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains and carried him to Babylon. 12But when he was in affliction, he sought the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13And he prayed to Him, and He was entreated of him and heard his prayer, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

14And after this he built a wall outside the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and went around Ophel and raised it to a very great height. And he put army commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15And he took away the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and threw them out of the city. 16And he repaired the altar of the LORD and sacrificed upon it peace offerings and thank offerings. And he commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. 17But the people still sacrificed in the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

18And the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the Kings of Israel; 19And his prayer, and his entreaty, and all his sin and his unfaithfulness, and the places in which he built high places and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled, behold, they are written among the records of the seers. 20And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And his son Amon reigned in his place.

21Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22And he did evil in the eyes of the LORD as his father Manasseh did, and Amon sacrificed to all the graven images that his father Manasseh had made and served them. 23But he did not humble himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but Amon trespassed more and more. 24And his servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house. 25Then the people of the land killed all those who conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made his son Josiah to reign in his place.