Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem, the longest of any king in Israel. 2 He
behaved wickedly before the Eternal, acting with the same abominations
as the previous nations did before the Eternal gave their land to
Israel. 3 He reversed the good deeds of Hezekiah,
rebuilding the high places and altars for the Baals and hoisting carved
images of Asherah into the skies. He worshiped all the celestial bodies
as false deities. 4-5 He
even desecrated the Eternal’s temple, the place honoring His reputation
which was to remain in Jerusalem forever, by building pagan altars in
two courts there. 6 In the valley of Ben-hinnom, Manasseh offered his children as burnt offerings to those false gods and used every form of magic:
witchcraft, divination, sorcery, and necromancy. Manasseh’s evil
actions infuriated the Eternal, but the worst of his actions was 7 his installation of an image of a statue in the True God’s temple. Many years before when His glory entered the temple for the first time, God had spoken. Eternal One (to David and his son Solomon): From among all the tribes I have chosen this house and this city, Jerusalem, from all the cities throughout Israel. This place will honor My reputation forever, 8 so that I will never allow Israel to leave the land that I gave to your ancestors—as long as you and your descendants follow the laws and requirements I gave to you through Moses.[a] 9 Manasseh corrupted Judah and the people of Jerusalem until they were more evil than the nations whom the Eternal had destroyed before the Israelites. 10 Their minds were so full of sin that they didn’t hear the Eternal asking them to return to His ways. 11 So to get their attention, the Eternal used the Assyrian army to express His anger. The commanders captured Manasseh, forced a ring through his nose, bound his limbs with bronze chains, and carried him to Babylon as if he were an animal. 12 From this position of complete powerlessness, Manasseh finally humbled himself and begged the forgiveness of the Eternal God of his fathers. 13 He heard Manasseh’s prayer and found it sincere; He returned Manasseh to the throne in Jerusalem. From that day forward, Manasseh never doubted that the Eternal was the True God. |
Daily Prayer > Old Testament >
