Manasseh Reigns in Judah (2 Chronicles 33:1–9)
2 UST He did many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were evil. He imitated the disgusting practices of the nations that Yahweh had forced to leave the land of Canaan so that the Israelites could settle there. 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 UST His father Hezekiah had destroyed the shrines where the Judeans had worshiped on the tops of hills. But Manasseh commanded his workers to rebuild those shrines. He had his workers build altars for Baal. He also had them set up a pole for the worship of the goddess Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had previously done. Manasseh also bowed down to the sun, moon, and stars to worship them. BSB BSB: For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.
4 UST He directed his workers to build altars{ for worshiping foreign gods} and to put them inside Yahweh’ s temple, even though Yahweh had said,“Jerusalem will be the place where people worship me.” BSB BSB: Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My Name.”
5 UST He also had his workers make altars for the sun, moon, and stars and put them in the courtyards for the priests and the people in the temple area. BSB BSB: In both courtyards of the house of the LORD, he built altars to all the host of heaven.
6 UST He even burned his own son as a sacrifice to a false god. He performed rituals to practice sorcery. He allowed people to dig pits so they could use them try to contact people who had died. People also used those pits to try to talk to spirits that they thought could tell them things that people otherwise could not know. He did very many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were evil, and that made Yahweh very angry. BSB BSB: He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
7 UST He placed the pole for the worship of the goddess Asherah inside the temple building. That was the place about which Yahweh had said to David and his son Solomon,“I will make Jerusalem, and especially this temple, places where people will always worship me. I chose Jerusalem for that purpose from among all of the cities in the land of Israel. BSB BSB: Manasseh even took the carved Asherah pole he had made and set it up in the temple, of which the LORD 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 UST And if the Israelite people carefully obey all my commands and all the laws that I gave to them through my servant Moses, I will not make them wander again. They will be able to stay in this land that I gave to their ancestors.” BSB BSB: I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they are careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole Law that My servant Moses commanded them.”
9 UST But the people did not carefully obey Yahweh. Manasseh persuaded them to commit sins that were even worse than the sins that the people of the nations committed whom Yahweh destroyed so that the Israelites could settle in the land of Canaan. BSB BSB: But the people did not listen and Manasseh led them astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
Manasseh’s Idolatries Rebuked (2 Chronicles 33:10–20)
10 UST Yahweh sent prophets to warn Manasseh and the people of Judah. They said, BSB BSB: And the LORD spoke through His servants the prophets, saying,
11 UST “{ Yahweh is angry with} King Manasseh of Judah because he has done disgusting evil things. They are worse than the things the Amorites did who lived in the land before the Israelites. Manasseh has also influenced the people of Judah to sin against Yahweh by worshiping the idols that he has made. BSB BSB: “Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these abominations, acting more wickedly than the Amorites who preceded him, and with his idols has caused Judah to sin,
12 UST Therefore Yahweh, the God whom we Israelite people worship, says that he is going to make something terrible happen to Jerusalem and the rest of Judah. It will be so terrible that it will shock everyone who hears about it. BSB BSB: this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that the news will reverberate in the ears of all who hear it.
13 UST He says that he will judge and punish the people of Jerusalem by the same standards that he used to judge the people of Samaria and the descendants of Ahab. When people wipe a plate clean, they turn it over to make sure that they have left nothing on it. In the same way, Yahweh will destroy Jerusalem and make sure that there is nothing left of it. BSB BSB: I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down.
14 UST Some of its people will survive, but he will not help them, even though he had chosen the Israelites as his special people. Instead, he will allow their enemies to conquer them and take them and all of their valuable possessions away from their land. BSB BSB: So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. And they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies,
15 UST He will do this because his people have done things that he has told them are very evil. This has made him very angry. They have been making him angry ever since the time when their ancestors left Egypt.” BSB BSB: because they have done evil in My sight and have provoked Me to anger from the day their fathers came out of Egypt until this day.’”
16 UST Manasseh also had his soldiers kill very many innocent people throughout the city of Jerusalem. He did this in addition to committing sins that influenced the people of Judah to commit sins by doing things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were evil. BSB BSB: Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, in addition to the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, doing evil in the sight of the LORD.
17 UST The book in which the kings of Judah recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Manasseh did, including the many sins that he committed. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
18 UST When Manasseh died, the Judeans buried him in the garden outside his palace. A man whose name was Uzza had previously owned that land. Manasseh’ s son Amon became the next king of Judah. BSB BSB: And Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And his son Amon reigned in his place.
Amon Reigns in Judah (2 Chronicles 33:21–25)
19 UST Amon was 22 years old when he became king. He ruled Judah from Jerusalem for two years. His mother was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz. She was from the city of Jotbah. BSB BSB: Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah.
20 UST He did many things that Yahweh had told the Israelites were evil, just as his father Manasseh had done. BSB BSB: And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done.
21 UST He behaved just as his father had behaved. He worshiped the same idols that his father had worshiped. He bowed down to those idols to worship them. BSB BSB: He walked in all the ways of his father, and he served and worshiped the idols his father had served.
22 UST He did not worship Yahweh, the God whom his ancestors had worshiped. He did not behave as Yahweh has said people should behave. BSB BSB: He abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.
23 UST Amon’ s officials plotted against him. They assassinated him in his palace. BSB BSB: Then the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his palace.
24 UST But then the people of Judah killed all those who had assassinated King Amon. They appointed his son Josiah to be their next 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.
25 UST The book in which the kings of Judah recorded what happened during their reigns describes further things that Amon did. BSB BSB: As for the rest of the acts of Amon, along with his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
26 UST The Judeans buried Amon in the tomb in the garden that Uzza had formerly owned. Amon’ s son Josiah became the next king. BSB BSB: And he was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah reigned in his place.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.