So the LORD let the commanders of the Assyrian army invade Judah. They captured Manasseh, stuck hooks in him, put him in chains, and took him to Babylon.

In his suffering he became humble, turned to the LORD his God, and begged him for help.

The king's prayer and God's answer to it, and an account of the sins he committed before he repented---the evil he did, the pagan places of worship and the symbols of the goddess Asherah that he made and the idols that he worshiped---are all recorded in The History of the Prophets.

The LORD is pleased when good people pray, but hates the sacrifices that the wicked bring him.

The Lord said to him, "Get ready and go to Straight Street, and at the house of Judas ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying,

But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-five years.

He rebuilt the pagan places of worship that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He built altars for the worship of Baal, made images of the goddess Asherah, and worshiped the stars.

In the two courtyards of the Temple he built altars for the worship of the stars.

He placed an image in the Temple, the place about which God had said to David and his son Solomon: "Here in Jerusalem, in this Temple, is the place that I have chosen out of all the territory of the twelve tribes of Israel as the place where I am to be worshiped.

Manasseh led the people of Judah to commit even greater sins than those committed by the nations whom the LORD had driven out of the land as his people advanced.

And there is a difference between God's gift and the sin of one man. After the one sin, came the judgment of "Guilty"; but after so many sins, comes the undeserved gift of "Not guilty!"

In his suffering he became humble, turned to the LORD his God, and begged him for help.

Still, there were some from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun who were willing to come to Jerusalem.

He sinned against the LORD and did not listen humbly to the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke the word of the LORD.

Before you punished me, I used to go wrong, but now I obey your word.

My punishment was good for me, because it made me learn your commands.

I know that your judgments are righteous, LORD, and that you punished me because you are faithful.

But to this day you have not humbled yourselves. You have not honored me or lived according to all the laws that I gave you and your ancestors.

"But you, his son, have not humbled yourself, even though you knew all this.