2 Chronicles 33

Judah's King Manasseh

1 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king; he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem.

2 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.

3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down^[a] and reestablished the altars for the Baals. He made Asherah poles, and he worshiped the whole heavenly host and served them.

4 He built altars in the Lord's temple, where the Lord had said: "Jerusalem is where My name will remain forever."

5 He built altars to the whole heavenly host in both courtyards of the Lord's temple.

6 He passed his sons through the fire in the Valley of Hinnom.^[b] He practiced witchcraft, divination, and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists.^[c] He did a great deal of evil in the Lord's sight, provoking Him.

7 Manasseh set up a carved image of the idol he had made, in God's temple,^[d] about which God had said to David and his son Solomon: "I will establish My name forever^[e] in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.^[f]

8 I will never again remove the feet of the Israelites from upon the land where I stationed your^[g] ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses-all the law, statutes, and judgments."^[h]

9 So Manasseh caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.^[i]

Manasseh's Repentance

10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they didn't listen.^[j]

11 So He brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze [shackles], and took him to Babylon.

12 When he was in distress, he sought the favor of the Lord his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.

13 He prayed to Him, so He heard his petition and granted his request, and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. So Manasseh came to know that the Lord is God.

14 After this, he built the outer wall of the city of David from west of Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate; he brought it around the Ophel, and he heightened it considerably. He also placed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

15 He removed the foreign gods and the idol^[k] from the Lord's temple, along with all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the Lord's temple and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.

16 He built^[l] the altar of the Lord and offered fellowship and thank offerings on it. Then he told Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

17 However, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

Manasseh's Death

18 The rest of the events of Manasseh's [reign], along with his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, are [written about] in the Events of Israel's Kings.

19 His prayer and how God granted his request, and all his sin and unfaithfulness and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself, they are written about in the Records of Hozai.

20 Manasseh rested with his fathers, and he was buried in his own house. His son Amon became king in his place.^[m]

Judah's King Amon

21 Amon was 22 years old when he became king; he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

22 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the carved images that his father Manasseh had made, and he served them.

23 But he did not humble himself before the Lord like his father Manasseh humbled himself; instead, Amon increased [his] guilt.

24 So his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house.

25 Then the common people^[n] executed all those who conspired against King Amon and made his son Josiah king in his place.^[o]

2 Chronicles 33 Commentary

Chapter 33

Manasseh's and repentance. (1-20) Amon's wicked reign in Judah. (21-25)

Verses 1-20 We have seen Manasseh's wickedness; here we have his repentance, and a memorable instance it is of the riches of God's pardoning mercy, and the power of his renewing grace. Deprived of his liberty, separated from his evil counsellors and companions, without any prospect but of ending his days in a wretched prison, Manasseh thought upon what had passed; he began to cry for mercy and deliverance. He confessed his sins, condemned himself, was humbled before God, loathing himself as a monster of impiety and wickedness. Yet he hoped to be pardoned through the abundant mercy of the Lord. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah was God, able to deliver. He knew him as a God of salvation; he learned to fear, trust in, love, and obey him. From this time he bore a new character, and walked in newness of life. Who can tell what tortures of conscience, what pangs of grief, what fears of wrath, what agonizing remorse he endured, when he looked back on his many years of apostacy and rebellion against God; on his having led thousands into sin and perdition; and on his blood-guiltiness in the persecution of a number of God's children? And who can complain that the way of heaven is blocked up, when he sees such a sinner enter? Say the worst against thyself, here is one as bad who finds the way to repentance. Deny not to thyself that which God hath not denied to thee; it is not thy sin, but thy impenitence, that bars heaven against thee.

Verses 21-25 Amon's father did ill, but he did worse. Whatever warnings or convictions he had, he never humbled himself. He was soon cut off in his sins, and made a warning for all men not to abuse the example of God's patience and mercy to Manasseh, as an encouragement to continue in sin. May God help us to be honest to ourselves, and to think aright respecting our own character, before death fixes us in an unchangeable state.

Footnotes

• [a]. 2 Ch 31:1; 2 Kg 18:4
• [b]. 2 Ch 28:3; 2 Kg 16:3
• [c]. 2 Kg 23:24
• [d]. Dt 16:21
• [e]. LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg; MT reads name for Elom; 2 Kg 21:7
• [f]. Dt 12:5; 1 Kg 11:32
• [g]. LXX, Syr, Vg read land I gave to their; 2 Kg 21:8
• [h]. 2 Sm 7:10; 1 Kg 9:1-9
• [i]. 2 Kg 21:1-9
• [j]. 2 Kg 21:10-16
• [k]. 2 Ch 33:7
• [l]. Some Hb mss, Syr, Tg, Arabic; other Hb mss, LXX, Vg read restored
• [m]. 2 Kg 21:17-18
• [n]. Lit the people of the land
• [o]. 2 Kg 21:19-24

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 33

This chapter gives an account of the reign of Manasseh, of his idolatries and impieties, 2Ch 33:1-10, of his captivity, humiliation, repentance, and reformation, 2Ch 33:11-17 of his last end, death, and burial, 2Ch 33:18-20 and of the wicked reign of Amon his son, and of his death by his servants, 2Ch 33:21-25.