2 Kings 21:1-18

Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah

1 ¹Manasseh was twelve * years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephzibah.

2 ²He did evil in the sight of the LORD, ³according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before * the sons of Israel.

3 For ⁴he rebuilt * the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and ⁵he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and ⁶worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

4 ⁷He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "⁸In Jerusalem I will put My name."

5 For he built altars for ⁹all the host of heaven in ¹⁰the two courts of the house of the LORD.

6 ¹¹He made his son pass through the fire, ¹²practiced witchcraft and used divination, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD provoking Him to anger.

7 Then ¹³he set the carved image of Asherah that he had made, in the house of which the LORD said to David and to his son Solomon, "¹⁴In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever.

8 "And I ¹⁵will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them."

9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh ¹⁶seduced them to do evil more than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before * the sons of Israel.

The King's Idolatries Rebuked

10 Now the LORD spoke through His servants the prophets, saying,

11 "¹⁷Because * Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, ¹⁸having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and ¹⁹has also made Judah sin ²⁰with his idols;

12 therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, ²¹both his ears will tingle.

13 '²²I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside * down.

14 'I will abandon the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies, and they will become as plunder and spoil to all their enemies;

15 because * they have done evil in My sight, and have been provoking Me to anger since the day their fathers came from Egypt, even to this day.' "

16 ²³Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until * he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides * his sin ²⁴with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.

17 ²⁵Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did and his sin which he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles * of the Kings of Judah?

18 ²⁶And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, ²⁷in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son became king in his place.

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2 Kings 21:1-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 KINGS 21

In this chapter a short history is given of the two wicked reigns of Manasseh and Amon; Manasseh is charged with great idolatry, with enchantments and witchcrafts, and seducing the children of Israel, 2Ki 21:1-9 and a prophecy is given out of the destruction of Jerusalem for his sins, 2Ki 21:10-16, and an account is given of his death and burial, 2Ki 21:17,18, and of his son and successor Amon, and the evils committed by him, 2Ki 21:19-22 and of the conspiracy against his life, which succeeded, and Josiah his son reigned in his stead, 2Ki 21:23-26.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 27

1. 2 Chronicles 33:1-9
2. Jeremiah 15:4
3. 2 Kings 16:3
4. 2 Kings 18:4
5. 1 Kings 16:31-33
6. Deuteronomy 17:2-5; 2 Kings 17:16; 2 Kings 23:5
7. 2 Kings 16:10-16
8. 2 Samuel 7:13; 1 Kings 8:29
9. 2 Kings 23:4, 5
10. 1 Kings 7:12; 2 Kings 23:12
11. Leviticus 18:21; 2 Kings 16:3; 2 Kings 17:17
12. Leviticus 19:26, 31; Deuteronomy 18:10-14
13. Deuteronomy 16:21; 2 Kings 23:6
14. 1 Kings 8:29; 1 Kings 9:3; 2 Chronicles 7:12, 16
15. 2 Samuel 7:10; 2 Kings 18:11, 12
16. Proverbs 29:12
17. 2 Kings 21:2; 2 Kings 24:3, 4
18. Genesis 15:16; 1 Kings 21:26
19. 2 Kings 21:16
20. 2 Kings 21:21
21. 1 Samuel 3:11; Jeremiah 19:3
22. Isaiah 34:11; Amos 7:7, 8
23. 2 Kings 24:4
24. 2 Kings 21:11
25. 2 Chronicles 33:11-19
26. 2 Chronicles 33:20
27. 2 Kings 21:26

Footnotes 2

[a]. I.e. a wooden symbol of a female deity
[b]. Lit "sinned"