Study Desk

Twelve years old, was Manasseh when he began to reign, and, fifty-five years, reigned he in Jerusalem, - and the name of his mother was Hephzibah.

And he did the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, - after the abominable practices of the nations, whom Yahweh had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel.

He again built the high places, which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, - and reared altars to Baal, and made a Sacred Stem, as did Ahab, king of Israel, and bowed down to all the army of the heavens, and served them.

And he used to build altars in the house of Yahweh, - concerning which Yahweh had said, - In Jerusalem, will I put my Name.

And he built altars to all the army of the heavens, - in the two courts of the house of Yahweh;

and caused his son to pass through the fire, and practiced hidden arts and used divination, and dealt with a familiar spirit and wizards, - he exceeded in doing the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh, provoking him to anger;

and he set the image of the Sacred Stem which he had made, - in the house, of which Yahweh had said unto David, and unto Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my Name, unto times age-abiding;

and I will not again let the foot of Israel wander away from the soil which I gave unto their fathers. Only if they take heed to do according to all that I have commanded them, even to the extent of all the law which, my servant Moses, commanded them.

But they hearkened not, - and Manasseh led them astray to do the thing that was wicked, more than the nations which Yahweh destroyed from before the sons of Israel.

Yahweh therefore spake through his servants the prophets saying -

Because Manasseh king of Judah hath made these abominations - hath done that which is wicked, more than all which the Amorites did who were before him, and hath caused, even Judah, to sin with his manufactured gods,

therefore - Thus, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, Behold me! bringing in calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, - that, whosoever heareth thereof, both his ears, will tingle;

And I will stretch over Jerusalem, the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab, - and will wipe out Jerusalem, as one wipeth out a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down;

And will abandon the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, - and they shall become a prey and a plunder, to all their enemies:

Because they have done the thing that is wicked in mine eyes, and have become such as to provoke me to anger, - from the day when their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even until this day.

Moreover also, innocent blood, did Manasseh shed in great abundance, till he had filled Jerusalem, from one end to the other, besides his committing the sins which he caused, Judah, to commit, in doing the thing that was wicked in the eyes of Yahweh.

Now, the rest of the story of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he committed, are, they, not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza, - and, Amon his son, reigned, in his stead.