2 Kings 21 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-five years. His mother's name was Hephzibah.

He did what was evil in Yahweh's eyes, following the disgusting practices of the nations that Yahweh had driven out ahead of the Israelites.

He rebuilt the worship sites on the hills that his father Hezekiah had torn down. He set up altars to Baal and made a sacred pole, just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and served them.

He built altars inside Yahweh's temple — the very place where Yahweh had said, "I will put my name in Jerusalem."

He built altars to all the stars in the sky in both courtyards of Yahweh's temple.

He burned his own son as a sacrifice. He practiced sorcery and divination, and he consulted mediums and spiritists. He did massive amounts of evil in Yahweh's eyes, provoking him to anger.

He took the carved image of the sacred pole he had made and set it up inside the temple — the place where Yahweh had told David and his son Solomon, "In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I chose out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.

I will never again make Israel's feet wander from the land I gave their ancestors — if only they are careful to do everything I commanded them, following the entire set of instructions that my servant Moses gave them."

But they didn't listen. And Manasseh led them so far astray that they did even more evil than the nations Yahweh had destroyed ahead of them.

Yahweh spoke through his servants the prophets, saying:

"Because King Manasseh of Judah has done these disgusting things — acting even worse than the Amorites who came before him — and has also led Judah to fail with his worthless idols,

this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears about it will ring.

I will stretch over Jerusalem the same measuring line used on Samaria and the same plumb line used on the house of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem clean the way someone wipes a dish — wiping it and turning it upside down.

I will abandon what remains of my own people and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and prey for all their enemies,

because they have done what is evil in my eyes and have been provoking me to anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt right up to today."

On top of all that, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from one end to the other — in addition to the failure he caused Judah to commit by doing what was evil in Yahweh's eyes.

The rest of what Manasseh did — everything he accomplished and the failures he committed — isn't it all written in the official records of the kings of Judah?

Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his own palace, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon became king after him.

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for two years. His mother's name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz, from Jotbah.

He did what was evil in Yahweh's eyes, just as his father Manasseh had done.

He walked in every way his father had walked. He served the worthless idols his father had served and bowed down to them.

He abandoned Yahweh, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in Yahweh's way.

Amon's own officials conspired against him and assassinated the king in his own palace.

But the common people of the land struck down everyone who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

The rest of what Amon did — isn't it all written in the official records of the kings of Judah?

He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king after him.