Duodecim annorum erat Manasses cum regnare cœpisset, et quinquaginta quinque annis regnavit in Jerusalem.

This Manasses was twelve years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted fifty-five years.

Manasses was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

Fecit autem malum coram Domino, juxta abominationes gentium quas subvertit Dominus coram filiis Israël:

And he defied the Lord’s will, by courting the false gods of those nations which the Lord destroyed to make room for the sons of Israel.

And he did evil before the Lord, according to all the abominations of the nations, which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel:

et conversus instauravit excelsa quæ demolitus fuerat Ezechias pater ejus: construxitque aras Baalim, et fecit lucos, et adoravit omnem militiam cæli, et coluit eam.

He restored once again the hill-shrines which his father Ezechias had overthrown; he raised altars to the gods of the country-side, and set up sacred trees, and gave to all the host of heaven worship and observance.

And he turned, and built again the high places which Ezechias his father had destroyed: and he built altars to Baalim, and made groves, and he adored all the host of heaven, and worshipped them.

Ædificavit quoque altaria in domo Domini, de qua dixerat Dominus: In Jerusalem erit nomen meum in æternum.

Nay, he must set up these altars of his in the temple itself, where the Lord fulfilled his promise that Jerusalem should be the shrine of his name for ever;

He built also altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said: In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.

Ædificavit autem ea cuncto exercitui cæli in duobus atriis domus Domini.

altars there must be for all the host of heaven in the two temple courts.

And he built them for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

Transireque fecit filios suos per ignem in valle Benennom: observabat somnia, sectabatur auguria, maleficis artibus inserviebat, habebat secum magos et incantatores, multaque mala operatus est coram Domino ut irritaret eum.

He consecrated his own sons by passing them through the fire in the ravine of Benennom; there was watching for dreams and taking of auguries, there was practising of magical arts; he surrounded himself with diviners and soothsayers, until this defiance of his provoked the Lord’s anger.

And he made his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of Benennom: he observed dreams, followed divinations, gave himself up to magic arts, had with him magicians, and enchanters: and he wrought many evils before the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

Sculptile quoque et conflatile signum posuit in domo Dei, de qua locutus est Deus ad David, et ad Salomonem filium ejus, dicens: In domo hac, et in Jerusalem quam elegi de cunctis tribubus Israël, ponam nomen meum in sempiternum.

He carved an image, too, and cast a sheath for it, and set this up in the Lord’s house. And this was at Jerusalem, the Lord’s choice among all the cities of Israel; this was in the temple that was to be the everlasting shrine of his name; so he had promised David and Solomon,

He set also a graven, and a molten statue 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 chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever.

Et moveri non faciam pedem Israël de terra quam tradidi patribus eorum: ita dumtaxat si custodierint facere quæ præcepi eis, cunctamque legem, et cæremonias atque judicia, per manum Moysi.

Nevermore will I let the sons of Israel be dislodged from the land I gave their fathers, if only they will be true to law and observance and decree Moses enjoined on them in my name.

And I will not make the foot of Israel to be removed out of the land which I have delivered to their fathers: yet so if they will take heed to do what I have commanded them, and all the law, and the ceremonies, and judgments by the hand of Moses.

Igitur Manasses seduxit Judam, et habitatores Jerusalem, ut facerent malum super omnes gentes quas subverterat Dominus a facie filiorum Israël.

The very nations which the Lord destroyed to make room for the sons of Israel were guilty of less wrong than Juda and Jerusalem did, when they were led astray by the example of Manasses.

So Manasses seduced Juda, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to do evil beyond all the nations, which the Lord had destroyed before the face of the children of Israel.

Locutusque est Dominus ad eum, et ad populum illius, et attendere noluerunt.

Warnings enough the Lord sent to him and to his people, but they went unheeded;

And the Lord spoke to him, and to his people, and they would not hearken.

Idcirco superinduxit eis principes exercitus regis Assyriorum: ceperuntque Manassen, et vinctum catenis atque compedibus duxerunt in Babylonem.

and the next emissaries he sent to them were the captains of the Assyrian army, who made Manasses their prisoner, and carried him away, loaded with chains and fetters, to Babylon.

Therefore he brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of the Assyrians: and they took Manasses, and carried him bound with chains and fetters to Babylon.

Qui postquam coangustatus est, oravit Dominum Deum suum: et egit pœnitentiam valde coram Deo patrum suorum.

It was to his own God, the Lord, that he turned in this time of distress; before him, the God of his fathers, he made humble amends,

And after that he was in distress he prayed to the Lord his God: and did penance exceedingly before the God of his fathers.

Deprecatusque est eum, et obsecravit intente: et exaudivit orationem ejus, reduxitque eum Jerusalem in regnum suum, et cognovit Manasses quod Dominus ipse esset Deus.

and sought his favour with earnest prayer. That prayer the Lord answered, and restored him to his throne at Jerusalem. Such good proof had Manasses that the Lord only was God.

And he entreated him, and besought him earnestly: and he heard his prayer, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom, and Manasses knew that the Lord was God.

Post hæc ædificavit murum extra civitatem David ad occidentem Gihon in convalle, ab introitu portæ piscium per circuitum usque ad Ophel, et exaltavit illum vehementer: constituitque principes exercitus in cunctis civitatibus Juda munitis:

It was after this that he built the wall beyond David’s Keep, out in the ravine west of Gihon, all the way round from the Fishmongers’ Gate to Ophel, raising it to a great height; set captains, too, on garrison duty in all the fortified towns of Juda.

After this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon in the valley, from the entering in of the fish gate round about to Ophel, and raised it up to a great height: and he appointed captains of the army in all the fenced cities of Juda:

et abstulit deos alienos, et simulacrum de domo Domini: aras quoque, quas fecerat in monte domus Domini et in Jerusalem: et projecit omnia extra urbem.

Meanwhile, there was an end of the false gods, of the idol that stood in the Lord’s house, of the altars he had set up on the temple hill and all over Jerusalem; he cast them away beyond the city walls.

And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord: the altars also which he had made in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and he cast them all out of the city.

Porro instauravit altare Domini, et immolavit super illud victimas, et pacifica, et laudem: præcepitque Judæ ut serviret Domino Deo Israël.

The Lord’s altar must be restored; to this he brought his victims, his welcome-offerings and thank-offerings, and bade Juda serve the Lord, the God of Israel.

And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed upon it victims, and peace offerings, and praise: and he commanded Juda to serve the Lord the God of Israel.

Attamen adhuc populus immolabat in excelsis Domino Deo suo.

None the less, men still sacrificed at the hill-shrines, but only to the Lord their God.

Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places to the Lord their God.

Reliqua autem gestorum Manasse, et obsecratio ejus ad Deum suum, verba quoque videntium qui loquebantur ad eum in nomine Domini Dei Israël, continentur in sermonibus regum Israël.

What else Manasses did, the prayer he offered to his God, and the warnings that were given to him by prophets in the name of the Lord God of Israel, may be found set down in the Record of the Israelite kings.

But the rest of the acts of Manasses, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of the Lord the God of Israel, are contained in the words of the kings of Israel.

Oratio quoque ejus et exauditio, et cuncta peccata atque contemptus, loca etiam in quibus ædificavit excelsa, et fecit lucos et statuas antequam ageret pœnitentiam, scripta sunt in sermonibus Hozai.

The Chronicle of Hozai, too, tells of his prayer and how his prayer was answered; of his defiance, and of all the places where he set up hill-shrine and forest shrine and image, before the time of his repentance.

His prayer also, and his being heard, and all his sins, and contempt, and places wherein he built high places, and set up groves, and statues before he did penance, are written in the words of Hozai.

Dormivit ergo Manasses cum patribus suis, et sepelierunt eum in domo sua: regnavitque pro eo filius ejus Amon.

So Manasses was laid to rest with his fathers, with his own house for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Amon.

And Manasses slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house: and his son Amon reigned in his stead.

Viginti duorum annorum erat Amon cum regnare cœpisset, et duobus annis regnavit in Jerusalem.

This Amon was twenty-two years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted two years;

Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

Fecitque malum in conspectu Domini, sicut fecerat Manasses pater ejus: et cunctis idolis quæ Manasses fuerat fabricatus, immolavit atque servivit.

he defied the Lord like his father Manasses. No idol Manasses had made but Amon must sacrifice and pay worship to it;

And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasses his father had done: and he sacrificed to all the idols which Manasses his father had made, and served them.

Et non est reveritus faciem Domini, sicut reveritus est Manasses pater ejus, et multo majora deliquit.

nor did he ever imitate his father by making humble amends, rather he outwent him in guilt.

And he did not humble himself before the Lord, as Manasses his father had humbled himself, but committed far greater sins.

Cumque conjurassent adversus eum servi sui, interfecerunt eum in domo sua.

He was slain in his own house, through a conspiracy among his own servants;

And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.

Porro reliqua populi multitudo, cæsis iis qui Amon percusserant, constituit regem Josiam filium ejus pro eo.

but the common folk put them to death, and gave the crown to the son of Amon, that was called Josias.

But the rest of the multitude of the people slew them that had killed Amon, and made Josias his son king in his stead.