2 Kings 21:1
Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzi-bah. Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzi-bah.
Manasseh's fifty-five-year reign in Jerusalem was a deliberate turning away from the statutes given through Moses. The rejection centered especially on the book of the covenant that forms part of Deuteronomy. This set aside the pattern that had made Hezekiah's reign prosperous, when teaching priests read the law publicly every day. Through careless neglect during Manasseh's reign the temple copy of the book of the law became lost, so that for many years the people generally were deprived of its instruction until the reformation in the eighteenth year of Josiah.