2 Chronicles 33

Wicked king Manasseh

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 But he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, like the detestable deeds of the peoples whom the LORD had driven out before the children of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he erected altars for the Baals, and made idolatrous groves, and worshipped all the starry host of the heavens and served them. 4 He also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem my name will be forever”. 5 And he built altars for all the starry host of the heavens in the two courtyards of the house of the LORD. 6 And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Also he practiced sorcery and divination and used witchcraft, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

7 And he placed a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen above all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. 8 And I will not again remove the foot of Israel out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers, so that they will be 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 led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray to do worse than the peoples whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

10 And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not listen.

33:1-10 2 Kings 21:1-10. See notes there.⚜

11 Therefore the LORD brought on them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They took Manasseh with hooks and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

Manasseh’s repentance and reforms

12 And when he was in distress, he sought the face of the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 and prayed to him, and the LORD heard his entreaty and listened to his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

14 Now after this he built a wall outside the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate, and encircled Ophel and greatly increased its height, and put military officers in all the fortified cities of Judah.

15 And he took away the foreign gods and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and threw them out of the city. 16 And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.

33:15-16 He proved by his deeds that his repentance was genuine. Prayer and tears are not enough to show that repentance is real. There must be an attempt to undo any evil done before repentance. See Matt 3:8; Luke 19:8; Acts 26:20; Jer 18:11.⚜

17 Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

33:12-17 Here is one of the most wonderful records of repentance in the whole Bible. Manasseh was the worst of all of Judah’s kings, perhaps among the very worst persons whoever lived. His repentance teaches that there is hope for any individual, no matter how far he (or she) may have gone into sin. See Isa 55:7; Ezek 18:21-22; Matt 21:31; 1 Tim 1:15-16. No one conscious of his (or her) sinful past and the evil and depravity of his nature should despair, but turn to God for grace and forgiveness. Manassah’s repentance, though it was of great benefit to him personally, was too late to bring lasting benefit to the nation. It took place at the end of his reign. He was able to make only a start at reformation before he died, and Amon his son, brought up during his father’s godless years, restored all the idol worship his father had abandoned.⚜

18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, look, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. 19 His prayer also, and how God listened to his entreaty, and all his sins, and his trespass, and the places where he built high places, and set up idolatrous groves and cast metal idols, before he was humbled, see, they are written in the words of the seers.

33:19 No man knows what has become of these records.⚜

20 So Manasseh slept with his ancestors, and they buried him in his own house. And Amon his son reigned in his place.

King Amon

21 Amon was twenty two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 But he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. For Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them, 23 and did not humble himself before the LORD, as his father Manasseh had humbled himself, but Amon trespassed more and more.

24 And his servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house. 25 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

33:21-25 2 Kings 21:19-24. Oh, the folly of those who follow all the evil their fathers did and none of the good.⚜