1. Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. And he was king 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
2. He did what the Lord said was wrong. He did the hated things the other nations had done. And the Lord had forced these nations out of the land ahead of the Israelites.
3. Manasseh’s father, Hezekiah, had destroyed the places where false gods were worshiped. But Manasseh rebuilt them. He built altars for Baal. And he made an Asherah idol as Ahab king of Israel had done. Manasseh worshiped all the stars of heaven and served them.
4. The Lord had said about the Temple, “I will be worshiped in Jerusalem.” But Manasseh built altars in the Temple of the Lord.
5. He built altars to worship the stars in the two courtyards of the Temple of the Lord.
6. He burned his own son as a sacrifice. He practiced magic and told the future by explaining signs and dreams. He got advice from mediums and fortune-tellers. He did many things that the Lord said were wrong. And this made the Lord angry.
7. Manasseh carved an Asherah idol and put it in the Temple. The Lord had spoken to David and his son Solomon about the Temple. He had said, “I will be worshiped in this Temple and in Jerusalem forever. I have chosen Jerusalem from all the tribes of Israel.
8. I will never again make the Israelites wander out of the land I gave their ancestors. But they must obey everything I have commanded them. And they must obey all the teachings my servant Moses gave them.”
9. But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them to do wrong. They did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.