(1) The elder son of Joseph.  he was born in Egypt, by the A.V., about 1712 B.C., his mother being Asenath, the daughter of Poti-pherah, priest of On.  In race, therefore, he, like his brother Ephraim, was half-Jew, half-Egyptian.  In giving him his name Manasseh, Joseph said, "God hath made me forget all my toil and my father's house" (see etym.) (Gen. xli. 50, 51; cf. xlvi. 20).  When Jacob desired to bless the two boys, Joseph took Ephraim in his right hand, towards Jacob's left, and Manasseh in his left towards Jacob's right; but the dying patriarch crossed his arms, so as to lay his right hand on Ephraim's head and his left on that of Manasseh.  Joseph, remonstrating, was told that it was no inadvertence, but was designed to intimate prophetically that while both sons should become the ancestors of great peoples, Ephraim should do so to a greater extent than his elder brother (xlviii. 8-21).  Quite in keeping with this prediction, Moses, just before his death, spoke of the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh (Deut. xxxiii. 17). [No. 2.]
    (2) The father of a certain Gershom, and grandfather of the Levite Jonathan whom the Danites took away from Micah's house (Judg. xviii. 30—A.V.).  But the R.V., following another and, it is believed, a better reading, substitutes "Moses" for "Manasseh."
    (3) The son and successor of good king Hezekiah.  He ascended the throne, by the A.V., about the year 698 B.C.  Though only twelve years of age, he seems to have considered himself wiser than his father, and at once addressed himself to undo the work of reformation which had been carried out in the former reign.  His father had destroyed the "high places"; he set them up again.  He, moreover, built an altar to Baal, reared an "Ashera," and made altars for the worship of the host of heaven within the two courts of the temple.  Prophets were sent to warn him, but he paid no attention to their threatenings.  Instead of listening, he shed very much innocent blood throughout every part of Jerusalem.  Who the victims were is unknown; tradition makes Isaiah one, which is doubtful.  But the conjecture cannot be far wrong that they were chiefly those who, retaining their fidelity to Jehovah, opposed Manasseh's reactionary religious measures (2 Kings xxi. 1-16).  As a penalty, the Assyrian king was permitted to take him prisoner and carry him to Babylon, which was then the residence of the Ninevite monarchs during the winter months of the year.  He repented, and was after a time restored to his kingdom.  He put away the idols which had been his ruin, and restored the worship of Jehovah.  He also added to the fortifications of Jerusalem (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11-19).  After a "reign" of fifty-five years, the longest which any king of Judah had enjoyed, he died, by the A.V., about the year 643 B.C., leaving his son Amon to ascend the throne (2 Kings xxi. 17, 18; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 20).  A cylinder of Esarhaddon's mentions "Minasse" (Manasseh) king of Judah as one of many kings who assembled at his call.
    (4) A son of Pahath-Moab.  He was induced by Ezra to put away his foreign wife (Ezra x. 30).
    (5) A son of Hashum.  He also was induced to do so (Ezra x. 33). (The Sunday School Teacher's Bible Manual, Hunter, 1894).