A reading from the book of Second Chronicles.

Manasse was 12 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem,

and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominations of the nations

whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, for he rebuilt the high places that his

father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Bales, and made Asheroth, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be forever. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord,

and he burned his sons as an offering in the valley of the son of Hennam, and used fortune-telling,

and omens, and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the

sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of the idol that he had made he set 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, I will put my name forever, and I will no more remove the foot

of Israel from the land that I appointed for your fathers. If only they will be careful to do

all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.

Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray to do more evil than the nations

whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. The Lord spoke to Manh and to his people, but they paid no attention.

Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria,

who captured Manassah with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.

And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly

before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty, and heard his plea,

and brought him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manassan knew that the Lord was God.

Afterward, he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Geyen in the valley and for the

entrance into the fish gate and carried it around Ophel and raised it to a very great height. He also

put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah, and he took away the foreign gods

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