Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, after the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel.
For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baalim, and made Asheroth, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, whereof Jehovah said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.
And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah.
He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he practised augury, and used enchantments, and practised sorcery, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
And he set the graven image of the idol, which he had made, in the house of God, of which God said to David and to 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 for ever:
neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances given by Moses.
And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did evil more than did the nations whom Jehovah destroyed before the children of Israel.
And Jehovah spake to Manasseh, and to his people; but they gave no heed.
Wherefore Jehovah brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh {Or, with hooks}in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
And when he was in distress, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
And he prayed unto him; and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah he was God.
Now after this he built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate; and he compassed Ophel about with it, and raised it up to a very great height: and he put {Or, captains of the army}valiant captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.
And he took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of Jehovah, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
And he {According to another reading, prepared.}built up the altar of Jehovah, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace-offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah, the God of Israel.
Nevertheless the people sacrificed still in the high places, but only unto Jehovah their God.
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel.
His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up the Asherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of {Or, the seers}Hozai.
So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as did Manasseh his father; and Amon sacrificed unto all the graven images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them.
And he humbled not himself before Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon {Or, became guilty}trespassed more and more.
And his servants conspired against him, and put him to death in his own house.
But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.
Querverweise zu 2. Chronika 33,11 2Chr 33,11
Jehovah will bring thee, and thy king whom thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation that thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
For he saith, Are not my princes all of them kings?
Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and lovingkindness, let not all the travail seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.
When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed), then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in coverts, and in {Or, cisterns}pits.
And Pharaoh-necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, {According to another reading, when he reigned.}that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a {Or, fine}tribute of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
And if they be bound in fetters,And be taken in the cords of afflictions;
How then canst thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have power over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. {[Chapter 10:1 in Hebrew]}
He hath walled me about, that I cannot go forth; he hath made my chain heavy.
Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they {Or, spake with him of judgement}gave judgment upon him.
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss for {Hebrew: him.}them from the end of the earth; and, behold, {Hebrew: he (and in the following verses).}they shall come with speed swiftly.
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind:
their roaring shall be like a lioness, they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver.
And they shall roar {Or, over}against them in that day like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, {According to the Massorette text, behold, darkness; distress and light; it is dark &c.}behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened in the clouds thereof.
And if they be bound in fetters,And be taken in the cords of afflictions;
Then he showeth them their work,And their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly.
He openeth also their ear to instruction,And commandeth that they return from iniquity.
If they hearken and serve him,They shall spend their days in prosperity,And their years in {Or, pleasantness}pleasures.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the {Or, rugged}desolate valleys, and in the clefts of the rocks, and upon all thorn-hedges, and upon all {Or, bushes}pastures.
In that day will the Lord shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.
Such as sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,Being bound in affliction and iron,
Because they rebelled against the words of God,And contemned the counsel of the Most High:
Therefore he brought down their heart with labor;They fell down, and there was none to help.
Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble,And he saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,And brake their bonds in sunder.