2 Chronicles 33
Manasseh sacrifices his sons
Manasseh was 12 years old when he began his reign, and he reigned for 55 years from Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the Existing One’s sight, practicing the same abominations that the people did in that land before the Existing One drove them out to make room for Israel. He rebuilt the shrines that his father Hezekiah had torn down, erected altars to the Baals, made Asheroth, worshiped all the spiritual beings, and served them. He built pagan altars in the Existing One’s house even though the Existing One said, “My name will be in Jerusalem forever.” He built altars for all the spiritual beings in both courtyards of the Existing One’s house. He burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of Hinnom’s Son, and he used fortune-telling, omens, sorcery, and consulted mediums and necromancers. He made the Existing One angry with all the evil he did. He set up a carved statue of an idol in God’s house even though God had told David and Solomon, “I will establish my name in this house and Jerusalem forever, and I won’t uproot Israel from the land I gave your ancestors as long as they carefully follow the orders, laws, and directions I gave through Moses.” Manasseh led Judah and Jerusalem astray, doing more evil than the nations the Existing One destroyed before Israel.
Babylon captures Manasseh, causing him to repent
The Existing One spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the Existing One brought Assyria’s military to them who captured Manasseh and brought him to Babylon with hooks and bronze chains. When he was distressed, he really humbled himself and earnestly asked the Existing One his God for favor. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his plea and brought him back to his kingdom in Jerusalem. Then Manasseh knew that the Existing One was God.
Manasseh returns to Judah and serves God
Afterward, he built an outer wall for David’s city in the valley west of Gihon and another high wall for the Fish Gate entrance that surrounded Ophel. He stationed military commanders in all of Judah’s fortified cities. He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the Existing One’s house and he removed all the altars he had built on the mountain where God’s temple was. He removed the altars he had built in Jerusalem, and he threw all of it outside the city. He restored the Existing One’s altar and offered sacrifices on it as peace offerings and thankful offerings. He ordered Judah to serve Israel’s God the Existing One. Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the shrines, but only to their God the Existing One.
Manasseh dies
The rest of Manasseh’s history, including his prayer to God and the messages the seers delivered to him in God’s name are recorded in the book of Chronicles. The book Chronicles of the Seers records his prayer, the way God was moved by his plea, his faithless sins, and the sites he built the shrines. Then Manasseh joined the slumber of his ancestors and they buried him in his house while his son Amon took the throne in his place.
Amon becomes king, gets assassinated
Amon was 22 years old when he took the throne, and he reigned for 2 years from Jerusalem. He did what was evil the Existing One’s sight, just like his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the statues that Manasseh had made and served them. He didn’t humble himself before the Existing One like Manasseh had done, but instead, Amon amassed more and more guilt for himself. His servants plotted against him and assassinated him in his own house. The common people executed the people who were behind the assassination, and they crowned his son Josiah as king in his place.