1 Manassés tinha a idade de doze anos quando começou a reinar; reinou cinqüenta e cinco anos em Jerusalém.2 Fez o mal aos olhos do Senhor, imitando as práticas abomináveis das nações que o Senhor tinha expulsado de diante dos israelitas.3 Reconstruiu os lugares altos, que seu pai Ezequias tinha destruído, erigiu altares aos Baal, fez ídolos de madeira, asserás, e prostrou-se diante do exército dos céus ao qual prestou culto.4 Chegou até a edificar altares no templo do Senhor, esse templo do qual tinha dito: Meu nome residirá em Jerusalém para sempre.5 Construiu altares para todo o exército dos céus nos dois átrios do templo.6 Fez passar pelo fogo seus próprios filhos no vale de Beninom; entregou-se à astrologia, à adivinhação e à magia, praticou a necromancia e a bruxaria, e multiplicou os atos que desagradavam ao Senhor, provocando-lhe assim a ira.7 O ídolo, feito por ele, erigiu-o no templo, do qual Deus tinha dito a Davi e a seu filho Salomão: Neste templo e na cidade de Jerusalém, que escolhi dentre todas as tribos de Israel, farei residir meu nome para sempre.8 Jamais removerei o pé de Israel, do solo que dei a seus pais, contanto que ponham todo o cuidado em praticar meus mandamentos e a lei que lhes prescreveu Moisés, meu servo.9 Manassés arrastou Judá e os habitantes de Jerusalém a exceder em malícia todas as nações que o Senhor tinha aniquilado diante dos israelitas.10 Falou, então, o Senhor a Manassés e a seu povo, mas eles não lhe deram atenção.11 O Senhor fez, então, vir contra ele os generais do rei da Assíria, os quais puseram Manassés em ferros, prenderam-no com uma dupla cadeia de bronze e levaram-no para Babilônia.12 Na sua angústia ele implorou ao Senhor, seu Deus, e se humilhou profundamente diante do Deus de seus pais.13 Ele dirigiu-lhe uma prece e o Senhor ouviu sua oração, reconduzindo-o a Jerusalém sobre seu trono. Manassés reconheceu desse modo que o Senhor era verdadeiramente Deus.14 Depois disso, construiu um muro exterior na cidade de Davi, a oeste, voltado para o Gião no vale, até a entrada da Porta dos Peixes. Essa muralha, muito elevada, cercava Ofel. Colocou também oficiais em todas as cidades fortes de Judá.15 Fez desaparecer do templo do Senhor os deuses falsos e o ídolo, assim como todos os altares que tinha há pouco tempo construído na montanha do templo e em Jerusalém, e atirou-os para fora da cidade.16 Reconstruiu o altar do Senhor e ofereceu sacrifícios de ação de graças e louvor; e ordenou a Judá servir ao Senhor, Deus de Israel.17 O povo continuava, todavia, a sacrificar nos lugares altos, mas somente ao Senhor, seu Deus.18 Os outros atos de Manassés, a prece que dirigiu a seu Deus e as palavras dos videntes que lhe falaram em nome do Senhor, Deus de Israel, tudo isso está consignado nos atos dos reis de Israel.19 Sua prece, a maneira como foi atendido, todas as suas faltas, suas revoltas, os sítios em que edificou lugares altos e erigiu asserás e outros ídolos, antes de se humilhar, tudo isso está consignado nas Atas de Hozai.20 Manassés adormeceu entre seus pais e foi sepultado na sua casa. Seu filho Amon sucedeu-lhe no trono.21 Amon tinha a idade de vinte e dois anos quando começou a reinar; reinou dois anos em Jerusalém.22 Fez o mal aos olhos do Senhor, como seu pai Manassés, sacrificando e rendendo culto a todos os ídolos levantados por seu pai.23 Mas não se humilhou diante do Senhor como ele; pelo contrário, sempre multiplicou seus delitos.24 Seus servos se conjuraram contra ele, e o mataram na sua própria casa.25 Mas o povo da terra feriu os conjurados e proclamou rei em seu lugar, seu filho Josias.

1 Twelve years old was Manasseh when he became king, and fifty and five years did he reign in Jerusalem.2 And he did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, after the abominable acts of the nations whom the Lord had driven out from before the children of Israel.3 And he built again the high–places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he erected altars for the Be’alim, and made Asheroth, and bowed himself down to all the host of heaven, and served them.4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of Ben–hinnom: he also observed times, and employed enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with those of a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he did much that is evil in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.7 And he placed a carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have made choice of out of all the tribes of Israel, will I place my name for ever.8 Nor will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers; but only if they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.9 But Menasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do worse than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the children of Israel.10 And the Lord spoke to Menasseh, and to his people; but they listened not.11 Wherefore the Lord brought over them the captains of the army belonging to the king of Assyria: and they took Menasseh prisoner with chains, and bound him with fetters, and led him off to Babylon.12 And when he was in distress, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.13 And he prayed unto him, and he permitted himself to be entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem, unto his kingdom. Then did Menasseh feel conscious that the Lord is indeed the true God.14 And after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gichon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the fish–gate, and about the hill–fort, and raised it up to a very great height; and he placed captains of the army in all the fortified cities of Judah.15 And he removed the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and he cast them forth to without the city.16 And he rebuilt the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereupon peace–offerings and thanksgiving–offerings, and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord the God of Israel.17 Nevertheless the people sacrificed on the high–places, but only unto the Lord their God.18 And the rest of the acts of Menasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the Lord the God of Israel, behold, they are in the history of the kings of Israel.19 His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sins and his faithlessness, and the places whereon he built high–places, and set up the Asherim and the graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written in the history of Chozai.20 And Menasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And Amon his son became king in his stead.21 Two and twenty years old was Amon when he became king, and two years did he reign in Jerusalem.22 And he did what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Menasseh his father had done; and unto all the carved images which Menasseh his father had made did Amon sacrifice, and them he served;23 But he did not humble himself before the Lord, as Menasseh his father had humbled himself; for he, Amon, made his guiltiness great.24 And his servants conspired against him, and put him to death in his own house.25 But the people of the land slew all those that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.