2But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the repulsive acts of the [pagan] nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons (descendants) of Israel.
2Manasseh did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. He followed the practices of the nations. The Lord hated those practices. The Lord had driven out those nations to make room for the Israelites.
2Manasseh did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same terrible sins that the other nations in Canaan had done. Those were the nations that the Lord had chased out so that the Israelites could live there.