In addition to his sin that he led Judah to commit in front of the Lord, Manasseh also killed a lot of innocent people from one end of Jerusalem to the other.
“King Manasseh of Judah has done disgusting things, things more evil than what the Amorites who ⌞were here⌟ before him had done. Manasseh has also made Judah sin by ⌞worshiping⌟ his idols.
Manasseh had an idol of Asherah made. Then he set it up in the temple, where the Lord had said to David and his son Solomon, “I have chosen this temple and Jerusalem from all the tribes of Israel. I will put my name here forever.
Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that they did more evil things than the nations that the Lord had destroyed when the Israelites arrived in the land.
I will make these people a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms on the earth. This will happen because of what Judah’s King Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, did in Jerusalem.
“The people, their ancestors, and the kings of Judah have abandoned me. They have made this place unrecognizable by burning incense as an offering to other gods that they hadn’t heard of. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people.
Suppose you do not oppress foreigners, orphans, and widows, or kill anyone in this place. And suppose you do not follow other gods that lead you to your own destruction.
You are guilty because of the people you have killed. You are dishonored because of the disgusting idols you have made. You have brought an end to your days, and you have come to the end of your years. That is why I will make you a disgrace to the nations and a joke in every land.
Righteous people will punish these women for adultery and for murder, because these women have committed adultery and their hands are covered with blood.
He answered me, “The wickedness of the nations of Israel and Judah is terrible. The land is filled with murder, and the city is filled with wrongdoing. They think that the Lord has abandoned the land and that he doesn’t see.
“You must not pollute the land where you live. Murder is what pollutes the land. The land where a murder was committed can never make peace with the Lord except through the death of the murderer.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you kill the prophets and stone to death those sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings! But you were not willing!