2 Kings 21:5-9

Manasseh built altars to give honour to the stars, in both yards of the Lord's temple.

He burnt his own son with fire as a sacrifice. He used magic and false gods to find out what would happen in the future. He took advice from magicians and people who talked to the spirits of dead people. He did many things that the Lord said were very evil. This made the Lord very angry.

Manasseh used wood to make an image of the false god, Asherah. He put this idol in the Lord's temple. The Lord had said this about his temple to King David and to his son King Solomon: ‘My people will worship me in my temple here in Jerusalem. That is the place that I have chosen to be my home for ever. I have chosen it from among all the tribes of Israel.

I will never cause the Israelite people to leave this land that I gave to their ancestors. But they must be careful to obey all my commands and all my Law that my servant Moses gave to them.’

But the people did not obey the Lord. Manasseh caused them to turn away from God. The Israelites did more evil things than the people who lived in Canaan before them. The Lord had destroyed those nations so that the Israelites could live there.