2 Chronicles 33:11

11 So the LORD sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner. They put a ring through his nose, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.

2 Chronicles 33:11 Meaning and Commentary

2 Chronicles 33:11

Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host
of the king of Assyria
Who was Esarhaddon, the son and successor of Sennacherib; this, according to the Jewish chronology ^F6, was in the twenty second year of Manasseh's reign:

which took Manasseh among the thorns;
in a thicket of briers and thorns, where, upon his defeat, he had hid himself; a fit emblem of the afflictions and troubles his sins brought him into:

and bound him with fetters;
hands and feet; with chains of brass, as the Targum, such as Zedekiah was bound with, ( 2 Kings 25:7 ) , not chains of gold, with which Mark Antony bound a king of Armenia, for the sake of honour ^F7:

and carried him to Babylon;
for now the king of Assyria was become master of that city, and added it to his monarchy, and made it the seat of his residence; at least some times that and sometimes Nineveh, Merodachbaladan being dead, or conquered; though, according to Suidas {h}, it was he that took Manasseh; and by an Arabic writer ^F9, he is said to be carried to Nineveh.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 24. p. 67.
F7 Vell. Patercul. Hist. Roman. l. 2.
F8 In voce (manasshv) .
F9 Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 67. So Suidas, ib.

2 Chronicles 33:11 In-Context

9 But Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do even more evil than the pagan nations that the LORD had destroyed when the people of Israel entered the land.

10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they ignored all his warnings.

11 So the LORD sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner. They put a ring through his nose, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.

12 But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the LORD his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.

13 And when he prayed, the LORD listened to him and was moved by his request. So the LORD brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh finally realized that the LORD alone is God!