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The .xxxiii. Chapter.
1 Manasses an idolater. 9 He causeth Iuda to erre. 11 He is led away prisoner into Ba∣bylon. 12 He prayeth to the Lorde and is deliuered. 15 He abolisheth idolatrie, 16 and setteth vp true religion. 20 He dieth, and Amon his sonne succeedeth, 24 whom his owne seruauntes slay.
[unspec A] 1 MAnasse was twelue yeres olde * 1.1 when he began to raigne, and he raigned fiftie and fiue yeres in Hierusalem:
2 But dyd euyll in the sight of the Lorde, like vnto the abhominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the chil∣dren of Israel.
3 For he went to, and buylt the high places * 1.2whiche Hezekia his father had broken downe: And he reared vp aulters for Baalim, and made groues, and wor∣shipped all the hoast of heauen, and ser∣ued them.
4 And he buylt aulters in the house of the Lorde, where as the Lord yet had sayd, * 1.3In Hierusalē shal my name be for euer.
5 And he buylded aulters for all the hoast of heauen, in the two courtes of ye house of the Lorde.
6 And he burnt his children in fire in the valley of the sonne of Hinnon: He was a sorcerer, he regarded the crying of birdes, vsed inchauntmentes, and mayn∣tayned workers with spirites and sears of fortunes, and wrought much euyll in the sight of the Lorde to anger hym withall.
[unspec B] 7 And he put the carued image and an idol whiche he had made, in the house of God: Of which house, God had sayd to Dauid and to Solomon his sonne, In this house and in Hierusalem whiche I haue chosen afore all the tribes of Isra∣el * 1.4 will I put my name for euer.
8 Neither will I make the foote of Is∣rael to remoue any more out of the land whiche I haue ordeyned for your fa∣thers, yf so be that they wil be diligent and do all that I haue commaunded them in all the law and statutes, and or∣dinaunces by the hande of Moyses.
9 And so Manasse made Iuda and the in∣habiters of Hierusalem to erre, and to do worse then the heathen whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And the Lord spake * 1.5 to Manasse and to his people: but they woulde not re∣garde.
11 Wherfore the Lord brought vpon them the captaynes of the hoast of the king of the Assyrians, whiche toke Manasse in holde, and bounde him with chaynes, and caried him to Babylon.
12 And when he was in tribulation, he be∣sought the Lord his God, and humbled him selfe exceedingly before the God of his fathers,
13 And made intercession to him: and God was (b) 1.6 intreated of him, and hearde his prayer, and brought him againe to Hie∣rusalem into his kingdome: and then Manasse knewe that the Lorde was God.
14 After this he buylt a wall without the [unspec C] citie of Dauid on the west side of Gion, in the valley, as they came to the fishe gate, and round about Ophel, & brought it vp of a very great heyght, and put cap∣taynes of warre in all the strong cities of Iuda.
15 And he toke away straunge gods and images out of the house of God, and * 1.7 all the aulters that he had buylt in the mount of the house of God and Hierusa∣lem, and cast them out of the citie.
16 And he prepared the aulter of the Lord, and sacrifised thereon peace offeringes and thanke offeringes, and charged Iu∣da to serue the Lorde God of Israel.
17 Neuerthelesse, the people dyd offer stil in the high places, howbeit vnto the Lorde their God only.
18 The rest of the actes of Manasse, and his prayer vnto his God, & the wordes of the sears that spake to him in the name of the Lorde God of Israel, be∣hold they are [written] in the sayinges of the kinges of Israel.
19 And his prayer, and howe that he was hearde, and all his sinnes, and his trespasse, and the places where he made high places and set vp groues and ima∣ges before he was meekened, beholde they are written among the sayinges of the sears.
20 And Manasse slept with his fathers, & they buried him in his (c) 1.8 owne house, and Amon his sonne raigned in his roome.