Manasseh was not content with encouraging evil; he put forth strenuous efforts to discourage good. There were many people who endeavored to remain faithful to God who now became the objects of his bitter hatred. Throughout the land the righteous were persecuted. Isaiah, who had been so stalwart a witness for truth and righteousness, suffered martyrdom at the hands of those who were determined to oppose the religious and political reforms for which he labored (see PK 382).