Manasseh

Manasseh, the name of the eldest son of Joseph. The tribe of Manasseh received land on both sides of the Jordan (see PALESTINE).—MANASSEH was also the name of one of the kings of Judah (the fourteenth), who succeeded his father Hezekiah, 697 or 699 B.C., at the age of twelve, and reigned, according to the narrative, for fifty-five years. He rushed headlong into all manner of idolatry, and seduced the people to follow his example. Carried prisoner to Babylon, he repented, and his prayer was heard (2 Chron. xxxiii.).—The apocryphal composition called the Prayer of Manasses, found in some MSS. of the Septuagint, was never positively received as canonical.