1Twelve years old was Manasseh when he became king, and fifty and five years did he reign in Jerusalem.

2And he did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, after the abominable acts of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before the children of Israel.

3And he built again the high-places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he erected altars for the Be'alim, and made Asheroth, and bowed himself down to all the host of heaven, and served them.

4And he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.

5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

6And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom: he also observed times, and employed enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with [those of] a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he did much that is evil in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

7And he placed a carved image of 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 made choice of out of all the tribes of Israel, will I place my name for ever.

8Nor will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers; but only if 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 Menasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do worse than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the children of Israel.

10And the Lord spoke to Menasseh, and to his people; but they listened not.

11Wherefore the Lord brought over them the captains of the army belonging to the king of Assyria: and they took Menasseh prisoner with chains, and bound him with fetters, and led him off to Babylon.

12And when he was in distress, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

13And he prayed unto him, and he permitted himself to be entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem, unto his kingdom. Then did Menasseh feel conscious that the Lord is indeed the [true] God.

14And after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gichon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the fish-gate, and about the hill-fort, and raised it up to a very great height; and he placed captains of the army in all the fortified cities of Judah.

15And he removed the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and he cast them forth to without the city.

16And he rebuilt the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereupon peace-offerings and thanksgiving-offerings, and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord the God of Israel.

17Nevertheless the people sacrificed on the high-places, but only unto the Lord their God.

18And the rest of the acts of Menasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the Lord the God of Israel, behold, they are in the history of the kings of Israel.

19His prayer also, and [how God] was entreated of him, and all his sins and his faithlessness, and the places whereon he built high-places, and set up the Asherim and the graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written in the history of Chozai.

20And Menasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And Amon his son became king in his stead.

21Two and twenty years old was Amon when he became king, and two years did he reign in Jerusalem.

22And he did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Menasseh his father had done; and unto all the carved images which Menasseh his father had made did Amon sacrifice, and them he served;

23But he did not humble himself before the Lord, as Menasseh his father had humbled himself; for he, Amon, made his guiltiness great.

24And his servants conspired against him, and put him to death in his own house.

25But the people of the land slew all those that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.