Study Desk

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds, are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

Hezekiah slept with his ancestors, and they buried him on the ascent to the tombs of the descendants of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death. His son Manasseh succeeded him.

For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had pulled down, and erected altars to the Baals, made sacred poles, worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them.

He made his son pass through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, practiced soothsaying and augury and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord , provoking him to anger.

The carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever;

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they gave no heed.

While he was in distress he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors.

He prayed to him, and God received his entreaty, heard his plea, and restored him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord indeed was God.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, these are in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

His prayer, and how God received his entreaty, all his sin and his faithlessness, the sites on which he built high places and set up the sacred poles and the images, before he humbled himself, these are written in the records of the seers.

So Manasseh slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in his house. His son Amon succeeded him.

He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord , as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images that his father Manasseh had made, and served them.

He did not humble himself before the Lord , as his father Manasseh had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred more and more guilt.

His servants conspired against him and killed him in his house.

But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon; and the people of the land made his son Josiah king to succeed him.

He did what was right in the sight of the Lord , and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the sacred poles, and the carved and the cast images.

In his presence they pulled down the altars of the Baals; he demolished the incense altars that stood above them. He broke down the sacred poles and the carved and the cast images; he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

When the king heard the words of the law he tore his clothes.