2 Kings 21:2-17

2 ¹He did evil in the sight of the LORD, ²according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD dispossessed before * the sons of Israel.

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

4 ⁶He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "⁷In Jerusalem I will put My name."

5 For he built altars for ⁸all the host of heaven in ⁹the two courts of the house of the LORD.

6 ¹⁰He made his son pass through the fire, ¹¹practiced 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 ¹²he 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, "¹³In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever.

8 "And I ¹⁴will 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 ¹⁵seduced 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 "¹⁶Because * Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, ¹⁷having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and ¹⁸has also made Judah sin ¹⁹with 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, ²⁰both his ears will tingle.

13 '²¹I 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 ²²Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until * he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides * his sin ²³with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.

17 ²⁴Now 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?

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2 Kings 21:2-17 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 24

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

Footnotes 2

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