⁴ for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods,^(A) and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy^(B) you.

³¹ You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates.^(A) They even burn their sons^(B) and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.^(C)

¹⁸ Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods,^(A) and you will sin^(B) against the Lord your God.

⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods,^(A) and his heart was not fully devoted^(B) to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

³ He rebuilt the high places^(A) his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal^(B) and made an Asherah pole,^(C) as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts^(D) and worshiped them. ⁴ He built altars^(E) in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.”^{(F) 5} In the two courts^(G) of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. ⁶ He sacrificed his own son^(H) in the fire, practiced divination,^(I) sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists.^(J) He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing^(K) his anger.

⁷ He took the carved Asherah pole^(L) he had made and put it in the temple,^(M) of which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name^(N) forever. ⁸ I will not again^(O) make the feet of the Israelites wander from the land I gave their ancestors, if only they will be careful to do everything I commanded them and will keep the whole Law that my servant Moses^(P) gave them.” ⁹ But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil^(Q) than the nations^(R) the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

¹⁰ The Lord said through his servants the prophets: ¹¹ “Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil^(S) than the Amorites^(T) who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols.^{(U) 12} Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster^(V) on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.^{(W) 13} I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line^(X) used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe^(Y) out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴ I will forsake^(Z) the remnant^(AA) of my inheritance and give them into the hands of enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their enemies; ¹⁵ they have done evil^(AB) in my eyes and have aroused^(AC) my anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this day.”