1. Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled fifty-five years from Jerusalem. His mother was Hephzibah.
2. Manasseh disobeyed the Lord by following the disgusting customs of the nations that the Lord had forced out of Israel.
3. He rebuilt the local shrines that his father Hezekiah had torn down. He built altars for the god Baal and set up a sacred pole for worshipping the goddess Asherah, just as King Ahab of Israel had done. And he faithfully worshipped the stars in heaven.
4. In the temple, where only the Lord was supposed to be worshipped, Manasseh built altars for pagan gods