Manasseh [key] [Heb.,=making to forget], in the Bible. 1 First son of Joseph by his Egyptian wife, Asenath, and eponymous ancestor of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Manasseh received land on both sides of the Jordan River. In Palestine his tribe occupied the land just S of the Vale of Jezreel; on the other side, Manasseh received land E of Gad.
2 King of Judah (c.687–642 b.c.), son and successor of Hezekiah. Under Manasseh, Judah reached a low point of moral and spiritual degradation. The Jewish Prayer of Manasseh, included in the Old Testament Apocrypha of the Authorized Version and the New Revised Standard Version, is a penitential psalm, purporting to be the king's prayer in captivity.
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