2 Chronicles 33:1-9

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]

2 Chronicles 33:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

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.

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