1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished. He set up altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles, and he bowed down to all the host of heaven and served them. 4 He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My name will be in Jerusalem forever.” 5 He built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 6 He made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom. He practiced divination, read omens, practiced sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 7 He placed the carved idol he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. 8 I will no longer remove Israel's foot from the land I assigned to your fathers, if only they are careful to do all I have commanded them, according to the whole law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.” 9 But Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not listen. 11 So the LORD brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. 12 In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself deeply before the God of his fathers. 13 He prayed to him, and God responded to his plea, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God. 14 After this he built an outer wall for the City of David, west of Gihon in the valley, as far as the entrance to the Fish Gate. It surrounded Ophel, and he raised it very high. He also stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15 He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, along with all the altars he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and threw them outside the city. 16 He restored the altar of the LORD and offered peace offerings and thank offerings on it. He commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, though only to the LORD their God. 18 The rest of Manasseh's deeds, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, are in the records of the kings of Israel. 19 His prayer and how God answered him, all his sins and his unfaithfulness, and the places where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself are written in the records of Hozai. 20 Manasseh rested with his fathers, and they buried him at his house. His son Amon reigned in his place.

21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the carved images his father Manasseh had made and served them. 23 He did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had humbled himself. Instead, Amon increased his guilt. 24 His servants conspired against him and killed him in his house. 25 But the people of the land struck down all who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.