2 Chronicles 33:4-10

33:4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my permanent home.”¹ 33:5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky. 33:6 He passed his sons through the fire² in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it.³ He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him.⁴ 33:7 He put an idolatrous image he had made in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home.⁵ 33:8 I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors,⁶ provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given to Moses.” 33:9 But Manasseh misled the people of⁷ Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.

33:10 The Lord confronted⁸ Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.

2 Chronicles 33:22-23

33:22 He did evil in the sight of⁹ the Lord, just like his father Manasseh had done. He offered sacrifices to all the idols his father Manasseh had made, and worshiped¹⁰ them. 33:23 He did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done.¹¹ Amon was guilty of great sin.¹²

¹tn Heb “In Jerusalem my name will be permanently.”

²tn Or “he sacrificed his sons in the fire.” This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice (NEB, NASV “made his sons pass through the fire”; NIV “sacrificed his sons in the fire”; NRSV “made his sons pass through fire”). For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.

³tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with a conjurer.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַּעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.

⁴tn Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”

⁵tn Heb “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I chose from all the tribes of Israel, I will place my name permanently” (or perhaps “forever”).

⁶tn Heb “I will not again make the feet of Israel wander from the land which I established for their fathers.”

⁷tn Heb “misled Judah.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” here by metonymy for the people of Judah.

⁸tn Heb “spoke to.”

⁹tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

¹⁰tn Or “served.”

¹¹tn Heb “as Manasseh his father had humbled himself.”

¹²tn Heb “for he, Amon, multiplied guilt.”