2 Chronicles 33:1

Manasseh Reigns in Judah

1 Manasseh ^awas twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

2 But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the ^aabominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

3 For he rebuilt the¹ high places which Hezekiah his father had ^abroken down; he raised up altars for the Baals, and ^bmade wooden images; and he worshiped ^call the host of heaven and served them.

4 He also built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^a“In Jerusalem shall My name be forever.”

5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven ^ain the two courts of the house of the Lord.

6 ^aAlso he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced ^bsoothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and ^cconsulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.

7 ^aHe even set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the¹ house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, ^b“In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever;

8 ^aand I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers—only if they are careful to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.”

9 So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.

Manasseh Restored After Repentance

10 And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not¹ listen.

11 ^aTherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, ^bbound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon.

12 Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and ^ahumbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,

13 and prayed to Him; and He ^areceived his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh ^bknew that the Lord was God.

14 After this he built a wall outside the City of David on the west side of ^aGihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate; and it ^benclosed Ophel, and he raised it to a very great height. Then he put military captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.

15 He took away ^athe foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city.

16 He also repaired the altar of the Lord, sacrificed peace offerings and ^athank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

17 ^aNevertheless the people still sacrificed on the¹ high places, but only to the Lord their God.

Death of Manasseh

18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of ^athe seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, indeed they are written in the¹ book of the kings of Israel.

19 Also his prayer and how God received his entreaty, and all his sin and trespass, and the sites where he built¹ high places and set up wooden images and carved images, before he was humbled, indeed they are written among the sayings of² Hozai.

20 ^aSo Manasseh rested with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. Then his son Amon reigned in his place.

Amon’s Reign and Death

21 ^aAmon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

22 But he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done; for Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and served them.

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
What is the Forerunner Commentary?

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2 Chronicles 33:2 >>

What Does 2 Chronicles 33:1 Mean?

2 Chronicles 33:1

Manasseh was the son of the second or third best king that Judah ever had. A list of the three best kings of Judah, hands down, begins with David, and he stands in a class of his own because every king is compared to him, even the good ones. He is the standard. Only three other kings are compared favorably to David: Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. God seems to draw special attention to Josiah as having been the second best, with Hezekiah being the third, and Jehoshaphat the fourth. That is my own list, but it has sound biblical reasoning behind it.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Why Three Kings Are Missing From Matthew 1

2 Chronicles 33:1-10

It would be hard to name a king of Israel or Judah who led his nation into more evil. Yet, incredible as it is, God's Word reveals that Manasseh repented of much of it. His repentance was not a hollow one. He changed so completely that he did a complete turn-around, tearing down the idols he had erected previously and making God's commanded sacrifices at the Temple. Nowhere is he directly evaluated as doing good in God's sight, but he did some good works to clean up some of the evil mess he had created. God's evaluation of him seems to be softened considerably, considering what could have been recorded.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Leadership and Covenants (Part One)

2 Chronicles 33:1-9

King Manasseh devastated the worship of the true God. As usually happens when the leadership is corrupt, the nation fell apart as well. What God has recorded here has New Covenant significance. Though this happened carnally to the people under the Old Covenant, they were recorded for the admonition of those under the New Covenant (I Corinthians 10:11). The same mistakes must not be repeated.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Guard the Truth!

2 Chronicles 33:1-9

Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah, probably the third best king that Judah ever had. In my mind, the four best kings of Judah were David—the standard who stands in a class of his own as Scripture compares every king to him, even the good ones—Josiah, Hezekiah, and Jehoshaphat, in that order. The Bible compares only these last three kings favorably to David. Manasseh, then, grew up under one of the best kings, Hezekiah.

Judah became worse under this wicked man than all of the pagan peoples whom God had sent Israel into the land to destroy—the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Hittites, etc. Manasseh seduced Judah using astrology, spiritism, witchcraft, human sacrifice, pagan altars, and idol groves. He destroyed all of Hezekiah's good works. Most surprising of all, he repented in captivity! Apparently, because of his former evils, he was not buried with the kings of Judah.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Three Missing Kings (Part One)

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