Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah

21 ^(A)Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Hephzibah. ^2 (B)He did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(C)in accordance with the abominations of the nations whom the Lord ^[a]dispossessed before the sons of Israel. ³ For ^(D)he rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had destroyed; and ^(E)he erected altars for Baal and made an ^[b]Asherah, just as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he ^(F)worshiped all the heavenly ^[c]lights and served them. ⁴ And ^(G)he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “^(H)In Jerusalem I will put My name.” ⁵ He built altars for ^(I)all the heavenly ^[d]lights in ^(J)the two courtyards of the house of the Lord. ⁶ And ^(K)he made his son pass through the fire, ^(L)interpreted signs, practiced divination, and used mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger. ⁷ Then ^(M)he put the carved image of Asherah that he had made in the house of which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “^(N)In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. ⁸ And I ^(O)will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will take care to act in accordance with everything that I have commanded them, and with all the Law that My servant Moses commanded them.” ⁹ But they did not listen, and Manasseh ^(P)encouraged them to do evil, more than the nations whom the Lord eliminated from the presence of the sons of Israel.

The King’s Idolatries Rebuked

¹⁰ Now the Lord spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹ “^(Q)Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations, ^(R)having done more evil than all that the Amorites did who were before him, and ^(S)has also misled Judah into sin ^(T)with his idols, ¹² therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that whoever hears about it, ^(U)both of his ears will ring. ^13 (V)I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem clean just as one wipes a bowl, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ And I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies, and they will become as plunder and spoils to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt, even to this day.’”

^16 (W)Furthermore, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem ^[e]from one end to another, besides his sin ^(X)into which he misled Judah, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord. ^17 (Y)Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and his sin which he ^[f]committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ^18 (Z)And Manasseh ^[g]lay down with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, ^(AA)in the garden of Uzza, and his son Amon became king in his place.

Amon Succeeds Manasseh

^19 (AB)Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰ He did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(AC)just as his father Manasseh had done. ²¹ For he walked ^[h]entirely in the way that his father had walked, and served the idols that his father had served, and worshiped them. ²² So ^(AD)he abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord. ²³ And ^(AE)the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house. ²⁴ Then ^(AF)the people of the land ^[i]killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place. ²⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁶ He was buried in his grave ^(AG)in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.

^32 (A)As they were coming out, they found a man of ^(B)Cyrene named Simon, ^[a]whom they compelled to carry His ^[b]cross.

The Crucifixion

^33 (C)And when they came to a place called ^(D)Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, ^34 (E)they gave Him ^(F)wine mixed with ^[c]bile to drink; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink it.

³⁵ And when they had crucified Him, ^(G)they divided His garments among themselves by casting ^[d]lots. ³⁶ And sitting down, they began to ^(H)keep watch over Him there. ³⁷ And above His head they put up the charge against Him ^[e]which read, “^(I)THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

³⁸ At that time two ^[f]rebels *were being crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹ And those passing by were ^[g]speaking abusively to Him, ^(J)shaking their heads, ⁴⁰ and saying, “^(K)You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! ^(L)If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, ⁴² “^(M)He saved others; ^[h]He cannot save Himself! ^(N)He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. ^43 (O)He has trusted in God; let God rescue Him now, if He ^[i]takes pleasure in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ^44 (P)And the ^[j]rebels who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him in the same way.

^45 (Q)Now from the ^[k]sixth hour darkness ^[l]fell upon all the land until the ^[m]ninth hour. ⁴⁶ And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “^(R)Eli, Eli, lema sabaktanei?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ⁴⁷ And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” ⁴⁸ And ^(S)immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. ⁴⁹ But the rest of them said, “^[n]Let us see if Elijah comes to save Him^[o].” ⁵⁰ And Jesus ^(T)cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit. ^51 (U)And behold, ^(V)the ^[p]veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and ^(W)the earth shook and the rocks were split. ⁵² Also the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the ^[q]saints who had ^(X)fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered ^(Y)the holy city and appeared to many. ^54 (Z)Now as for the centurion and those who were with him ^(AA)keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw ^(AB)the earthquake and the other things that were happening, they became extremely frightened and said, “Truly this was ^[r](AC)the Son of God!”

^55 (AD)And many women were there watching from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ^(AE)caring for Him. ⁵⁶ Among them were ^(AF)Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and ^(AG)the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

Jesus Is Buried

^57 (AH)Now when it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea came, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹ And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock; and he rolled ^(AI)a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹ And ^(AJ)Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.

⁶² Now on the next day, that is, the day which is after ^(AK)the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, ⁶³ and they said, “Sir, we remember that when that deceiver was still alive, He said, ‘^(AL)After three days I am rising.’ ⁶⁴ Therefore, give orders for the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, “You have a ^(AM)guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ And they went and made the tomb secure with ^(AN)the guard, ^(AO)sealing ^(AP)the stone.