2 Kings 21:7-17

7 Then ¹he 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, "²In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever.

8 "And I ³will 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 ⁴seduced 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 "⁵Because * Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, ⁶having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and ⁷has also made Judah sin ⁸with 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, ⁹both his ears will tingle.

13 '¹⁰I 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 ¹¹Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until * he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides * his sin ¹²with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.

17 ¹³Now 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?

2 Kings 21:7-17 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.

Cross References

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

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "sinned"