2 Chronicles 33

Manasseh Reigns in Judah

1 ¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to ²the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.

3 For he rebuilt the high places ³that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made ⁴Asherahs, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

4 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, ⁵"In Jerusalem shall my name be forever."

5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in ⁶the two courts of the house of the LORD.

6 ⁷And he burned his sons as an offering ⁸in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and ⁹used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with ¹⁰mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

7 And ¹¹the carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, ¹²I will put my name forever,

8 and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land ¹³that I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses."

9 Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel.

Manasseh's Repentance

10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention.

11 ¹⁴Therefore the LORD brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and ¹⁵bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.

12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the LORD his God ¹⁶and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

13 He prayed to him, and ¹⁷God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. ¹⁸Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.

14 Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of ¹⁹Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into ²⁰the Fish Gate, and carried it around ²¹Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.

15 And ²²he took away the foreign gods and the idol from 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 he threw them outside of the city.

16 He also restored the altar of the LORD and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.

17 ²³Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and ²⁴his prayer to his God, and the words of ²⁵the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the ²⁶Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

19 And his prayer, and how ²⁷God was moved by his entreaty, and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites ²⁸on which he built high places and set up the ²⁹Asherim and the images, before ³⁰he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the Chronicles of the Seers.^[a]

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

Amon's Reign and Death

21 ³¹Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

22 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images ³²that Manasseh his father had made, and served them.

23 And he did not humble himself before the LORD, ³³as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this Amon incurred guilt more and more.

24 And his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his house.

25 But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.

2 Chronicles 33 Commentary

Chapter 33

Manasseh's and repentance. (1-20) Amon's wicked reign in Judah. (21-25)

Verses 1-20 We have seen Manasseh's wickedness; here we have his repentance, and a memorable instance it is of the riches of God's pardoning mercy, and the power of his renewing grace. Deprived of his liberty, separated from his evil counsellors and companions, without any prospect but of ending his days in a wretched prison, Manasseh thought upon what had passed; he began to cry for mercy and deliverance. He confessed his sins, condemned himself, was humbled before God, loathing himself as a monster of impiety and wickedness. Yet he hoped to be pardoned through the abundant mercy of the Lord. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah was God, able to deliver. He knew him as a God of salvation; he learned to fear, trust in, love, and obey him. From this time he bore a new character, and walked in newness of life. Who can tell what tortures of conscience, what pangs of grief, what fears of wrath, what agonizing remorse he endured, when he looked back on his many years of apostacy and rebellion against God; on his having led thousands into sin and perdition; and on his blood-guiltiness in the persecution of a number of God's children? And who can complain that the way of heaven is blocked up, when he sees such a sinner enter? Say the worst against thyself, here is one as bad who finds the way to repentance. Deny not to thyself that which God hath not denied to thee; it is not thy sin, but thy impenitence, that bars heaven against thee.

Verses 21-25 Amon's father did ill, but he did worse. Whatever warnings or convictions he had, he never humbled himself. He was soon cut off in his sins, and made a warning for all men not to abuse the example of God's patience and mercy to Manasseh, as an encouragement to continue in sin. May God help us to be honest to ourselves, and to think aright respecting our own character, before death fixes us in an unchangeable state.

Cross References

• 1. For ver. 1-9, see 2 Kings 21:1-9
• 2. 2 Chronicles 28:3
• 3. 2 Chronicles 30:14; 2 Chronicles 31:1; 2 Kings 18:4
• 4. See Deuteronomy 16:21; [Deuteronomy 17:3]
• 5. 2 Chronicles 6:6
• 6. 2 Chronicles 4:9
• 7. 2 Chronicles 28:3
• 8. See Joshua 15:8
• 9. Deuteronomy 18:10
• 10. See 1 Samuel 28:3
• 11. ver. 15
• 12. [See ver. 4 above]
• 13. 2 Samuel 7:10
• 14. [Deuteronomy 28:36]
• 15. [2 Chronicles 36:6; Judges 16:21]
• 16. [2 Chronicles 32:26]
• 17. 1 Chronicles 5:20; Ezra 8:23
• 18. [Daniel 4:25]
• 19. 1 Kings 1:33
• 20. Nehemiah 3:3; Nehemiah 12:39; Zephaniah 1:10
• 21. 2 Chronicles 27:3
• 22. ver. 3, 5, 7
• 23. [2 Chronicles 32:12]
• 24. ver. 13, 19
• 25. See 1 Samuel 9:9
• 26. [2 Kings 21:17]
• 27. [See ver. 13 above]
• 28. ver. 3
• 29. ver. 3
• 30. [See ver. 12 above]
• 31. For ver. 21-25, see 2 Kings 21:19-24
• 32. ver. 7; [2 Chronicles 34:3, 4]
• 33. ver. 12

Footnotes

• [a]. One Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts of Hozai

Chapter Summary

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.