Study Desk

However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah.

Even in the matter of the messengers of the rulers of Babylon, who were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land; God left him alone only to test him, so that He might know everything that was in his heart.

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

So Hezekiah lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the upper section of the tombs of the sons of David; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And his son Manasseh became king in his place.

For he rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had torn down; he also set up altars for the Baals and made Asherim, and he worshiped all the heavenly lights and served them.

He also made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

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

So the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.

When he was in distress, he appeased the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

When he prayed to Him, He was moved by him and heard his pleading, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD alone is God.

Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of Israel.

His prayer also and how God was moved by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of Hozai.

So Manasseh lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And his son Amon became king in his place.

He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his father Manasseh had done, and Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them.

Furthermore, he did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had done, but Amon multiplied his guilt.

Finally, his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house.

But the people of the land killed all the conspirators against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or the left.

For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast metal images.

They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he chopped down the incense altars that were high above them; also he broke in pieces the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast metal images, and ground them to powder, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.