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Reign of Manasseh

33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.(A) He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel.(B) For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had pulled down and erected altars to the Baals, made sacred poles,[a] worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them.(C) He built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.”(D) He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.(E) He made his son pass through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, practiced soothsaying and augury and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.(F) The carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever;(G) I will never again remove the feet of Israel from the land that I appointed for your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.”(H) Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh Restored after Repentance

10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they gave no heed. 11 Therefore the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh captive in manacles, bound him with fetters, and brought him to Babylon.(I) 12 While he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors.(J) 13 He prayed to him, and God received his entreaty, heard his plea, and restored him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord indeed was God.(K)

14 Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, reaching the entrance at the Fish Gate; he carried it around Ophel and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.(L) 15 He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them out of the city.(M) 16 He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of well-being and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord the God of Israel. 17 The people, however, still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.(N)

Death of Manasseh

18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, these are in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.(O) 19 His prayer, and how God received his entreaty, all his sin and his faithlessness, the sites on which he built high places and set up the sacred poles[b] and the images, before he humbled himself, these are written in the records of the seers.[c](P) 20 So Manasseh slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in his house. His son Amon succeeded him.(Q)

Amon’s Reign and Death

21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; he reigned two years in Jerusalem.(R) 22 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images that his father Manasseh had made and served them.(S) 23 He did not humble himself before the Lord, as his father Manasseh had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred more and more guilt.(T) 24 His servants conspired against him and killed him in his house.(U) 25 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king to succeed him.

Reign of Josiah

34 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.(V) He did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles,[d] and the carved and the cast images.(W) In his presence they pulled down the altars of the Baals; he demolished the incense altars that stood above them. He broke down the sacred poles[e] and the carved and the cast images; he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.(X) He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.(Y) In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins[f] all around,(Z) he broke down the altars, beat the sacred poles[g] and the images into powder, and demolished all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.(AA)

Discovery of the Book of the Law

In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.(AB) They came to the high priest Hilkiah and delivered the silver that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.(AC) 10 They delivered it to the workers who had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and the workers who were working in the house of the Lord gave it for repairing and restoring the house. 11 They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone, and timber for binders, and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin.(AD) 12 The people did the work faithfully. Over them were appointed the Levites Jahath and Obadiah, of the sons of Merari, along with Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to have oversight. Other Levites, all skillful with instruments of music,(AE) 13 were over the burden bearers and directed all who did work in every kind of service, and some of the Levites were scribes, and officials, and gatekeepers.(AF)

14 While they were bringing out the silver that had been brought into the house of the Lord, the priest Hilkiah found the book of the law of the Lord given through Moses.(AG) 15 Hilkiah said to the secretary Shaphan, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord,” and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. 16 Shaphan brought the book to the king and further reported to the king, “All that was committed to your servants they are doing.(AH) 17 They have emptied out the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workers.” 18 The secretary Shaphan informed the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.” Shaphan then read it aloud to the king.

19 When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.(AI) 20 Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, the secretary Shaphan, and the king’s servant Asaiah, 21 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found, for the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us is great, because our ancestors did not keep the word of the Lord, to act in accordance with all that is written in this book.”(AJ)

The Prophet Huldah Consulted

22 So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to the prophet Huldah, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (who lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter) and spoke to her to that effect.(AK) 23 She declared to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me: 24 ‘Thus says the Lord: I will indeed bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah.(AL) 25 Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’(AM) 26 But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Regarding the words that you have heard, 27 because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord.(AN) 28 I will gather you to your ancestors and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place and its inhabitants.’ ” They took the message back to the king.

The Covenant Renewed

29 Then the king sent word and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.(AO) 30 The king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small; he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.(AP) 31 The king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.(AQ) 32 Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin pledge themselves to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. 33 Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord the God of their ancestors.(AR)

Footnotes

  1. 33.3 Or Asherahs
  2. 33.19 Or Asherahs
  3. 33.19 Heb ms Gk: MT of Hozai
  4. 34.3 Or Asherahs
  5. 34.4 Or Asherahs
  6. 34.6 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  7. 34.7 Or Asherahs