King Manasseh of Judah

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-five years. His mother was Hephzibah.

²Following the disgusting practices of the nations whom the Lord had driven out of the land as his people advanced, Manasseh sinned against the Lord.

³He rebuilt the pagan places of worship that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he built altars for the worship of Baal and made an image of the goddess Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done. Manasseh also worshiped the stars.

⁴He built pagan altars in the Temple, the place that the Lord had said was where he should be worshiped.

⁵In the two courtyards of the Temple he built altars for the worship of the stars.

⁶He sacrificed his son as a burnt offering. He practiced divination and magic and consulted fortunetellers and mediums. He sinned greatly against the Lord and stirred up his anger.

⁷He placed the symbol of the goddess Asherah in the Temple, the place about which the Lord had said to David and his son Solomon: “Here in Jerusalem, in this Temple, is the place that I have chosen out of all the territory of the twelve tribes of Israel as the place where I am to be worshiped.

⁸And if the people of Israel will obey all my commands and keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them, then I will not allow them to be driven out of the land that I gave to their ancestors.”

⁹But the people of Judah did not obey the Lord, and Manasseh led them to commit even greater sins than those committed by the nations whom the Lord had driven out of the land as his people advanced.

¹⁰Through his servants the prophets the Lord said,

¹¹“King Manasseh has done these disgusting things, things far worse than what the Canaanites did; and with his idols he has led the people of Judah into sin.

¹²So I, the Lord God of Israel, will bring such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will be stunned.

¹³I will punish Jerusalem as I did Samaria, as I did King Ahab of Israel and his descendants. I will wipe Jerusalem clean of its people, as clean as a plate that has been wiped and turned upside down.

¹⁴I will abandon the people who survive, and will hand them over to their enemies, who will conquer them and plunder their land.

¹⁵I will do this to my people because they have sinned against me and have stirred up my anger from the time their ancestors came out of Egypt to this day.”

¹⁶Manasseh killed so many innocent people that the streets of Jerusalem were flowing with blood; he did this in addition to leading the people of Judah into idolatry, causing them to sin against the Lord.

¹⁷Everything else that Manasseh did, including the sins he committed, is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.

¹⁸Manasseh died and was buried in the palace garden, the garden of Uzza, and his son Amon succeeded him as king.

King Amon of Judah

¹⁹Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for two years. His mother was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz from the town of Jotbah.

²⁰Like his father Manasseh, he sinned against the Lord;

²¹he imitated his father's actions, and he worshiped the idols that his father had worshiped.

²²He rejected the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and disobeyed the Lord's commands.

²³Amon's officials plotted against him and assassinated him in the palace.

²⁴The people of Judah killed Amon's assassins and made his son Josiah king.

²⁵Everything else that Amon did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.

²⁶Amon was buried in the tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah succeeded him as king.

The Assyrians Threaten Jerusalem

¹After these events, in which King Hezekiah served the Lord faithfully, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, invaded Judah. He besieged the fortified cities and gave orders for his army to break their way through the walls.

²When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib intended to attack Jerusalem also,

^3-4he and his officials decided to cut off the supply of water outside the city in order to keep the Assyrians from having any water when they got near Jerusalem. The officials led a large number of people out and stopped up all the springs, so that no more water flowed out of them.

⁵The king strengthened the city's defenses by repairing the wall, building towers on it, and building an outer wall. In addition, he repaired the defenses built on the land that was filled in on the east side of the old part of Jerusalem. He also had a large number of spears and shields made.

⁶He placed all the men in the city under the command of army officers and had them assemble in the open square at the city gate. He said to them,

⁷“Be determined and confident, and don't be afraid of the Assyrian emperor or of the army he is leading. We have more power on our side than he has on his.

⁸He has human power, but we have the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.” The people were encouraged by these words of their king.

⁹Some time later, while Sennacherib and his army were still at Lachish, he sent the following message to Hezekiah and the people of Judah who were with him in Jerusalem:

¹⁰“I, Sennacherib, Emperor of Assyria, ask what gives you people the confidence to remain in Jerusalem under siege.

¹¹Hezekiah tells you that the Lord your God will save you from our power, but Hezekiah is deceiving you and will let you die of hunger and thirst.

¹²He is the one who destroyed the Lord's shrines and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem to worship and burn incense at one altar only.

¹³Don't you know what my ancestors and I have done to the people of other nations? Did the gods of any other nation save their people from the emperor of Assyria?

¹⁴When did any of the gods of all those countries ever save their country from us? Then what makes you think that your god can save you?

¹⁵Now don't let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like that. Don't believe him! No god of any nation has ever been able to save his people from any Assyrian emperor. So certainly this god of yours can't save you!”

¹⁶The Assyrian officials said even worse things about the Lord God and Hezekiah, the Lord's servant.

¹⁷The letter that the emperor wrote defied the Lord, the God of Israel. It said, “The gods of the nations have not saved their people from my power, and neither will Hezekiah's god save his people from me.”

¹⁸The officials shouted this in Hebrew in order to frighten and discourage the people of Jerusalem who were on the city wall, so that it would be easier to capture the city.

¹⁹They talked about the God of Jerusalem in the same way that they talked about the gods of the other peoples, idols made by human hands.

²⁰Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed to God and cried out to him for help.

²¹The Lord sent an angel that killed the soldiers and officers of the Assyrian army. So the emperor went back to Assyria disgraced. One day when he was in the temple of his god, some of his sons killed him with their swords.

²²In this way the Lord rescued King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the power of Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, and also from their other enemies. He let the people live in peace with all the neighboring countries.

²³Many people came to Jerusalem, bringing offerings to the Lord and gifts to Hezekiah, so that from then on all the nations held Hezekiah in honor.

Hezekiah's Illness and Pride

²⁴About this time King Hezekiah became sick and almost died. He prayed, and the Lord gave him a sign that he would recover.

²⁵But Hezekiah was too proud to show gratitude for what the Lord had done for him, and Judah and Jerusalem suffered for it.

²⁶Finally, however, Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem humbled themselves, and so the Lord did not punish the people until after Hezekiah's death.

Hezekiah's Wealth and Splendor

²⁷King Hezekiah became very wealthy, and everyone held him in honor. He had storerooms built for his gold, silver, precious stones, spices, shields, and other valuable objects.

²⁸In addition, he had storehouses built for his grain, wine, and olive oil; barns for his cattle; and pens for his sheep.

²⁹Besides all this, God gave him sheep and cattle and so much other wealth that he built many cities.

³⁰It was King Hezekiah who blocked the outlet for Gihon Spring and channeled the water to flow through a tunnel to a point inside the walls of Jerusalem. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did,

³¹and even when the Babylonian ambassadors came to inquire about the unusual event that had happened in the land, God let Hezekiah go his own way only in order to test his character.

The End of Hezekiah's Reign

³²Everything else that King Hezekiah did and his devotion to the Lord are recorded in The Vision of the Prophet Isaiah Son of Amoz and in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

³³Hezekiah died and was buried in the upper section of the royal tombs. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem paid him great honor at his death. His son Manasseh succeeded him as king.

A Hymn of Praise

¹I will proclaim your greatness, my God and king; I will thank you forever and ever.

²Every day I will thank you; I will praise you forever and ever.

³The Lord is great and is to be highly praised; his greatness is beyond understanding.

⁴What you have done will be praised from one generation to the next; they will proclaim your mighty acts.

⁵They will speak of your glory and majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful deeds.

⁶People will speak of your mighty deeds, and I will proclaim your greatness.

⁷They will tell about all your goodness and sing about your kindness.

⁸The Lord is loving and merciful, slow to become angry and full of constant love.

⁹He is good to everyone and has compassion on all he made.

¹⁰All your creatures, Lord, will praise you, and all your people will give you thanks.

¹¹They will speak of the glory of your royal power and tell of your might,

¹²so that everyone will know your mighty deeds and the glorious majesty of your kingdom.

¹³Your rule is eternal, and you are king forever. The Lord is faithful to his promises; he is merciful in all his acts.

¹⁴He helps those who are in trouble; he lifts those who have fallen.

¹⁵All living things look hopefully to you, and you give them food when they need it.

¹⁶You give them enough and satisfy the needs of all.

¹⁷The Lord is righteous in all he does, merciful in all his acts.

¹⁸He is near to those who call to him, who call to him with sincerity.

¹⁹He supplies the needs of those who honor him; he hears their cries and saves them.

²⁰He protects everyone who loves him, but he will destroy the wicked.

²¹I will always praise the Lord; let all his creatures praise his holy name forever.