2 Chronicles 33-34

New King James Version

Manasseh Reigns in Judah^(A)

33 Manasseh ^(B)was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ² But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the ^(C)abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. ³ For he rebuilt the ^[a]high places which Hezekiah his father had ^(D)broken down; he raised up altars for the Baals, and ^(E)made wooden images; and he worshiped ^(F)all ^[b]the host of heaven and served them. ⁴ He also built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^(G)“In Jerusalem shall My name be forever.” ⁵ And he built altars for all the host of heaven ^(H)in the two courts of the house of the Lord. ^6 (I)Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced ^(J)soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and ^(K)consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. ^7 (L)He even set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the ^[c]house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, ^(M)“In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; ^8 (N)and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers—only if they are careful to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.” ⁹ So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.

Manasseh Restored After Repentance

¹⁰ And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not ^[d]listen. ^11 (O)Therefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with ^[e]hooks, ^(P)bound him with ^[f]bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon. ¹² Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and ^(Q)humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, ¹³ and prayed to Him; and He ^(R)received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh ^(S)knew that the Lord was God.

¹⁴ After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of ^(T)Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it ^(U)enclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height. Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. ¹⁵ He took away ^(V)the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city. ¹⁶ He also repaired the altar of the Lord, sacrificed peace offerings and ^(W)thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. ^17 (X)Nevertheless the people still sacrificed on the ^[g]high places, but only to the Lord their God.

Death of Manasseh^(Y)

¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of ^(Z)the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, indeed they are written in the ^[h]book of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹ Also his prayer and how God received his entreaty, and all his sin and trespass, and the sites where he built ^[i]high places and set up wooden images and carved images, before he was humbled, indeed they are written among the sayings of ^[j]Hozai. ^20 (AA)So Manasseh rested with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. Then his son Amon reigned in his place.

Amon’s Reign and Death^(AB)

^21 (AC)Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²² But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done; for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and served them. ²³ And he did not humble himself before the Lord, ^(AD)as his father Manasseh had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.

^24 (AE)Then his servants conspired against him, and ^(AF)killed him in his own house. ²⁵ But the people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

Josiah Reigns in Judah^(AG)

34 Josiah ^(AH)was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ² And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

³ For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still ^(AI)young, he began to ^(AJ)seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began ^(AK)to purge Judah and Jerusalem ^(AL)of the ^[k]high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images. ^4 (AM)They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars which were above them he cut down; and the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them ^(AN)and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He also ^(AO)burned the bones of the priests on their ^(AP)altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ And so he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali and all around, with ^[l]axes. ⁷ When he had broken down the altars and the wooden images, had ^(AQ)beaten the carved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law^(AR)

^8 (AS)In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the ^[m]temple, he sent ^(AT)Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the ^(AU)governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. ⁹ When they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered ^(AV)the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites who kept the doors had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, from all the ^(AW)remnant of Israel, from all Judah and Benjamin, and which they had brought back to Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Then they put it in the hand of the foremen who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they gave it to the workmen who worked in the house of the Lord, to repair and restore the house. ¹¹ They gave it to the craftsmen and builders to buy hewn stone and timber for beams, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. ¹² And the men did the work faithfully. Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah the Levites, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to supervise. Others of the Levites, all of whom were skillful with instruments of music, ¹³ were ^(AX)over the burden bearers and were overseers of all who did work in any kind of service. ^(AY)And some of the Levites were scribes, officers, and gatekeepers.

¹⁴ Now when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest ^(AZ)found the Book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses. ¹⁵ Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the ^(BA)book to Shaphan. ¹⁶ So Shaphan carried the book to the king, bringing the king word, saying, “All that was committed to your servants they are doing. ¹⁷ And they have ^[n]gathered the money that was found in the house of the Lord, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen.” ¹⁸ Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.

¹⁹ Thus it happened, when the king heard the words of the Law, that he tore his clothes. ²⁰ Then the king commanded Hilkiah, ^(BB)Ahikam the son of Shaphan, ^[o]Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying, ²¹ “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not ^(BC)kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.”

²² So Hilkiah and those the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of ^[p]Tokhath, the son of ^[q]Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke to her to that effect.

²³ Then she answered them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, ²⁴ “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will ^(BD)bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the ^(BE)book which they have read before the king of Judah, ²⁵ because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place, and not be quenched.’ ” ’ ²⁶ But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, in this manner you shall speak to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Concerning the words which you have heard— ²⁷ because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the ^(BF)Lord. ²⁸ “Surely I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place and its inhabitants.” ’ ” So they brought back word to the king.

Josiah Restores True Worship^(BG)

^29 (BH)Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ The king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the Levites, and all the people, great and small. And he ^(BI)read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord. ³¹ Then the king ^(BJ)stood in ^(BK)his place and made a ^(BL)covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. ³² And he made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin take a stand. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. ³³ Thus Josiah removed all the ^(BM)abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel ^[r]diligently serve the Lord their God. ^(BN)All his days they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers.