Manasseh Reigns in Judah (2 Kings 21:1–9)
1 UDB Manasseh was twelve years old when he became the king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for fifty-five years. BSB BSB: Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years.
2 UDB He did many things that Yahweh said were evil. He imitated the disgusting things that were formerly done by the peoples that Yahweh had expelled from Israel as his people advanced into the land. BSB BSB: And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
3 UDB He commanded his workers to rebuild the high places upon the hills for worshiping idols, the same ones that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He told them to set up poles to honor the god Baal, and to make poles to honor the goddess Asherah. He also bowed down to worship all the stars. BSB BSB: For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down, and he raised up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. And he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.
4 UDB He directed his workers to build altars for foreign gods in the temple itself, about which Yahweh had said, "It is here in Jerusalem that I want people to worship me, forever." BSB BSB: Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”
5 UDB He directed that altars for worshiping all the stars be built in both of the courtyards outside the temple BSB BSB: In both courtyards of the house of the LORD, he built altars to all the host of heaven.
6 UDB He even sacrificed some of his own sons by burning them in a fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He performed rituals to practice sorcery. He asked fortune tellers for advice. He performed witchcraft. He talked to people who consulted the spirits of people who had died to find out what would happen in the future. He did many things that Yahweh says are very evil, things that caused Yahweh to become very angry. BSB BSB: He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
7 UDB Manasseh took the carved idol that his workers had made and put it in the temple. That is the temple concerning which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, "My temple will be here in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen where I want people to worship me, forever. BSB BSB: Manasseh even took the carved image he had made and set it up in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever.
8 UDB If they will obey all the laws and decrees and regulations that I told Moses to give to them, I will not again force the Israelite people to leave this land that I gave to their ancestors." BSB BSB: I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to leave the land that I assigned to your fathers, if only they are careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses—all the laws, statutes, and judgments.”
9 UDB But Manasseh led the people of Jerusalem and other places in Judah to do things that are wrong, with the result that they did more evil than had been done by the people in the peoples that Yahweh had driven out as the Israelite people advanced through the land. BSB BSB: So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
Manasseh’s Repentance and Restoration (2 Kings 21:10–18)
10 UDB Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and the people of Judah, but they paid no attention. BSB BSB: And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not listen.
12 UDB There, while he was suffering, he humbled himself greatly in the presence of Yahweh, the God whom his ancestors worshiped, and pleaded with Yahweh to help him. BSB BSB: And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.
13 UDB When he prayed, Yahweh heard him and pitied him. So he allowed him to return to Jerusalem and to rule his kingdom again. Then Manasseh realized that Yahweh is God, who can do anything. BSB BSB: And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition. So He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.
14 UDB Later, Manasseh's workers rebuilt the eastern section of the outer wall around Jerusalem, and they made it higher. That section extended from spring of Gihon north to the Fish Gate, and around the part of the city that they called Ophel Hill. Manasseh also appointed army officers to guard each of the cities in Judah that had walls around them. BSB BSB: After this, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David from west of Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and he brought it around the hill of Ophel and heightened it considerably. He also stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.
15 UDB Manasseh's workers removed from the temple the idols and the figures of gods of other nations. He also told them to remove the altars that they had previously built on Mount Zion and in other places in Jerusalem. He had all those things thrown out of the city. BSB BSB: He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, along with all the altars he had built on the temple mount and in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city.
16 UDB Then he told them to repair the altar of Yahweh, and he offered sacrifices to restore fellowship with Yahweh and to thank him. And he told the people of Judah that they must worship only Yahweh. BSB BSB: Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and he told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.
17 UDB The people continued to offer sacrifices at the high places on the hills, but only to Yahweh their God. BSB BSB: Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.
18 UDB The other things that happened while Manasseh was ruling, including his prayer to God and the messages from Yahweh that the prophets spoke to him, are written in the book of the kings of Israel. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, along with 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, they are indeed written in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
19 UDB What Manasseh prayed and how God pitied him because of what he pleaded to God for—also his sins and ways in which he disobeyed God—also the list of places where he built the houses on the hills for idol worship and set up poles to honor the goddess Asherah and other idols before he humbled himself—these are all written in what the prophets wrote. BSB BSB: His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers.
20 UDB Manasseh died and was buried in his palace. Then his son Amon became the king of Judah. BSB BSB: And Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried at his palace. And his son Amon reigned in his place.
Amon Reigns in Judah (2 Kings 21:19–26)
21 UDB Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for two years. BSB BSB: Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years.
22 UDB He did many things that Yahweh said were evil, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon worshiped all the idols that Manasseh's workers had made. BSB BSB: And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon served and sacrificed to all the idols that his father Manasseh had made,
23 UDB But he did not humble himself and turn to Yahweh like his father did. So he became more sinful than his father had been. BSB BSB: but he did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had done; instead, Amon increased his guilt.
24 UDB Then Amon's officials made plans to kill him. They assassinated him in his palace. BSB BSB: Then the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed him in his palace.
25 UDB But then the people of Judah killed all those who had assassinated Amon, and they appointed his son Josiah to be their king. BSB BSB: But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.
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