The Second Book of the Kings

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- Kapitel 21 -

(2 Chronicles 33:1–9)

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to rule. He ruled Judah for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hephzibah.

He did many things that Yahweh said were evil. He imitated the disgusting things that were formerly done by the people of the nations that Yahweh had driven out from the land of Israel as his people advanced through the land.

He commanded his workers to rebuild the places of idol worship built on the hills. Those were the very high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He directed his workers to build altars to offer sacrifices of living creatures to Baal. Manasseh made a statue of the goddess Asherah, as Ahab the king of Israel had done previously. And Manasseh worshiped the stars and he served them.

He directed his workers to build altars for worshiping foreign gods in the temple of Yahweh, even though Yahweh had said, “It is here in Jerusalem where I want people to worship me, forever.”

He directed that altars for worshiping the stars be built in both of the courtyards in the temple grounds.

He even sacrificed his own son and burned him in the fire. He performed rituals to practice sorcery and spells. He also went to people who consulted the spirits of dead people to find out what would happen in the future. He did many things that Yahweh said are extremely evil, things that caused Yahweh to become very angry.

He placed the statue of the goddess Asherah in the temple, the place about which Yahweh had said to David and his son Solomon, “My temple will be here in Jerusalem. This is the city that I have chosen from all the territory of the twelve tribes of Israel, where I want people to worship me forever.

And if the Israelite people obey all my commands and all the laws that I gave to Moses, the man who served me very well, I will not again force them to leave this land that I gave to their ancestors.”

But the people did not pay attention to Yahweh. Manasseh persuaded them to commit sins that were more evil than the sins that were committed by the people of the nations that Yahweh had driven from the land as the Israelite people advanced.

Manasseh’s Idolatries Rebuked

(2 Chronicles 33:10–20)

These are some of the things that Yahweh said through his prophets. Many times Yahweh had given them these messages:

“Manasseh, the king of Judah, has done these abominable things, things that are much worse than the things that the Amor people group did in this land long ago. He has lead the people of Judah to sin against Yahweh by worshiping the idols that he worshiped.

Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh, the God whom you Israelite people worship, says to you: I am about to cause disaster to come to Jerusalem and the rest of Judah. It will be terrible, with the result that everyone who hears about it will be stunned.

I will judge and punish the people of Jerusalem as I punished the family of King Ahab of Israel. I will remove the people of Jerusalem as people wipe a plate clean and then turn it upside down to show that they are now satisfied.

And I will abandon the people who remain alive, and I will allow their enemies to conquer them and steal everything valuable from their land.

I will do this because my people have done things that I say are very evil, things which have caused me to become very angry. They have caused me to become angry continually, ever since the time that their ancestors left Egypt.”

Manasseh commanded his officials to kill many innocent people in Jerusalem, with the result that their blood flowed in the streets. He did this in addition to persuading the people of Judah to do many things that Yahweh said were evil.

If you want to know more about all the things that Manasseh did, they are written in the Book of the Events of the Kings of Judah.

Manasseh died and was buried in the garden outside his palace, the garden that Uzza had made. Then his son Amon became the king.

Amon Reigns in Judah

(2 Chronicles 33:21–25)

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king. He ruled Judah from Jerusalem for only two years. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth. She was from the city of Jotbah, and was the daughter of Haruz.

He did many things that Yahweh said were evil, as his father Manasseh had done.

He imitated the behavior of his father, and he worshiped the same idols that his father had worshiped.

He abandoned Yahweh, the God whom his ancestors had worshiped, and did not behave as Yahweh wanted him to behave.

Then one day some of his officials made plans to kill him. They assassinated him in the palace.

But then the people of Judah killed all those who had assassinated King Amon, and they appointed his son Josiah to be their king.

If you want to read about the other things that Amon did, they are written in the Book of the Events of the Kings of Judah.

Amon was also buried in the tomb in the garden that Uzza had made. Then his son Josiah became the king.

(2 Chronicles 33:1–9)

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.

He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he raised up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel did, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them.

He built altars in the LORD’s house, of which the LORD said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.”

He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of the LORD’s house.

He made his son to pass through the fire, practiced sorcery, used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits and with wizards. He did much evil in the LORD’s sight, to provoke him to anger.

He set the engraved image of Asherah that he had made in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever;

I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.”

But they didn’t listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than the nations did whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.

Manasseh’s Idolatries Rebuked

(2 Chronicles 33:10–20)

The LORD spoke by his servants the prophets, saying,

“Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has also made Judah to sin with his idols;

therefore the LORD the God of Israel says, ‘Behold, I will bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle.

I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plumb line of Ahab’s house; and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. They will become a prey and a plunder to all their enemies,

because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.’”

Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; in addition to his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the LORD’s sight.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon his son reigned in his place.

Amon Reigns in Judah

(2 Chronicles 33:21–25)

Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, as Manasseh his father did.

He walked in all the ways that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them;

and he abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and didn’t walk in the way of the LORD.

The servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house.

But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.