1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:
2 But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
4 Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts 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 observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
7 And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
8 Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed 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 made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.
11 Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
12 And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
13 And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.
14 Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.
15 And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of 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 cast them out of the city.
16 And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.
17 Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only.
18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.
19 His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sins, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.
20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
21 Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem.
22 But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as did Manasseh his father: for Amon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them;
23 And humbled not himself before the LORD, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.
24 And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.
25 But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.
1 Manasseh H4519 was twelve H8147 H6240 years H8141 old H1121 when he began to reign, H4427 and he reigned H4427 fifty H2572 and five H2568 years H8141 in Jerusalem: H3389
2 But did H6213 that which was evil H7451 in the sight H5869 of the LORD, H3068 like unto the abominations H8441 of the heathen, H1471 whom the LORD H3068 had cast out H3423 before H6440 the children H1121 of Israel. H3478
3 For he built H1129 again H7725 the high places H1116 which Hezekiah H3169 his father H1 had broken down, H5422 and he reared up H6965 altars H4196 for Baalim, H1168 and made H6213 groves, H842 and worshipped H7812 all the host H6635 of heaven, H8064 and served H5647 them.
4 Also he built H1129 altars H4196 in the house H1004 of the LORD, H3068 whereof the LORD H3068 had said, H559 In Jerusalem H3389 shall my name H8034 be for ever. H5769
5 And he built H1129 altars H4196 for all the host H6635 of heaven H8064 in the two H8147 courts H2691 of the house H1004 of the LORD. H3068
6 And he caused H5674 his children H1121 to pass through H5674 the fire H784 in the valley H1516 of the son H1121 of Hinnom: H2011 also he observed times, H6049 and used enchantments, H5172 and used witchcraft, H3784 and dealt H6213 with a familiar spirit, H178 and with wizards: H3049 he wrought H6213 much H7235 evil H7451 in the sight H5869 of the LORD, H3068 to provoke him to anger. H3707
7 And he set H7760 a carved image, H6459 the idol H5566 which he had made, H6213 in the house H1004 of God, H430 of which God H430 had said H559 to David H1732 and to Solomon H8010 his son, H1121 In this house, H1004 and in Jerusalem, H3389 which I have chosen H977 before all the tribes H7626 of Israel, H3478 will I put H7760 my name H8034 for ever: H5865
8 Neither will I any more H3254 remove H5493 the foot H7272 of Israel H3478 from out H5921 of the land H127 which I have appointed H5975 for your fathers; H1 so that H518 they will take heed H8104 to do H6213 all that I have commanded H6680 them, according to the whole law H8451 and the statutes H2706 and the ordinances H4941 by the hand H3027 of Moses. H4872
9 So Manasseh H4519 made H8582 Judah H3063 and the inhabitants H3427 of Jerusalem H3389 to err, H8582 and to do H6213 worse H7451 than the heathen, H1471 whom the LORD H3068 had destroyed H8045 before H6440 the children H1121 of Israel. H3478
10 And the LORD H3068 spake H1696 to Manasseh, H4519 and to his people: H5971 but they would not hearken. H7181
11 Wherefore the LORD H3068 brought H935 upon them the captains of H8269 the host of H6635 the king H4428 of Assyria, H804 which took H3920 Manasseh H4519 among the thorns, H2336 and bound him H631 with fetters, H5178 and carried H3212 him to Babylon. H894
12 And when he was in affliction, H6887 he besought H2470 the LORD H3068 his God, H430 and humbled H3665 himself greatly H3966 before H6440 the God H430 of his fathers, H1
13 And prayed H6419 unto him: and he was intreated H6279 of him, and heard H8085 his supplication, H8467 and brought him again H7725 to Jerusalem H3389 into his kingdom. H4438 Then Manasseh H4519 knew H3045 that the LORD H3068 he was God. H430
14 Now after this H310 he built H1129 a wall H2346 without H2435 the city H5892 of David, H1732 on the west side H4628 of Gihon, H1521 in the valley, H5158 even to the entering in H935 at the fish H1709 gate, H8179 and compassed H5437 about Ophel, H6077 and raised it up H1361 a very great height, H3966 and put H7760 captains H8269 of war H2428 in all the fenced H1219 cities H5892 of Judah. H3063
15 And he took away H5493 the strange H5236 gods, H430 and the idol H5566 out of the house H1004 of the LORD, H3068 and all the altars H4196 that he had built H1129 in the mount H2022 of the house H1004 of the LORD, H3068 and in Jerusalem, H3389 and cast H7993 them out H2351 of the city. H5892
16 And he repaired H1129 the altar H4196 of the LORD, H3068 and sacrificed H2076 thereon peace H8002 offerings H2077 and thank offerings, H8426 and commanded H559 Judah H3063 to serve H5647 the LORD H3068 God H430 of Israel. H3478
17 Nevertheless H61 the people H5971 did sacrifice H2076 still in the high places, H1116 yet unto the LORD H3068 their God H430 only.
18 Now the rest H3499 of the acts H1697 of Manasseh, H4519 and his prayer H8605 unto his God, H430 and the words H1697 of the seers H2374 that spake H1696 to him in the name H8034 of the LORD H3068 God H430 of Israel, H3478 behold, they are written in the book H1697 of the kings H4428 of Israel. H3478
19 His prayer H8605 also, and how God was intreated H6279 of him, and all his sin, H2403 and his trespass, H4604 and the places H4725 wherein he built H1129 high places, H1116 and set up H5975 groves H842 and graven images, H6456 before H6440 he was humbled: H3665 behold, they are written H3789 among the sayings H1697 of the seers. H2374 H2335
20 So Manasseh H4519 slept H7901 with his fathers, H1 and they buried H6912 him in his own house: H1004 and Amon H526 his son H1121 reigned H4427 in his stead.
21 Amon H526 was two H8147 and twenty H6242 years H8141 old H1121 when he began to reign, H4427 and reigned H4427 two H8147 years H8141 in Jerusalem. H3389
22 But he did H6213 that which was evil H7451 in the sight H5869 of the LORD, H3068 as did H6213 Manasseh H4519 his father: H1 for Amon H526 sacrificed H2076 unto all the carved images H6456 which Manasseh H4519 his father H1 had made, H6213 and served H5647 them;
23 And humbled H3665 not himself before H6440 the LORD, H3068 as Manasseh H4519 his father H1 had humbled H3665 himself; but Amon H526 trespassed H819 more and more. H7235
24 And his servants H5650 conspired H7194 against him, and slew H4191 him in his own house. H1004
25 But the people H5971 of the land H776 slew H5221 all them that had conspired H7194 against king H4428 Amon; H526 and the people H5971 of the land H776 made H4427 Josiah H2977 his son H1121 king H4427 in his stead.
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, after the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baalim, and made Asheroth, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
4 And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, whereof Jehovah said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah.
6 He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he practised augury, and used enchantments, and practised sorcery, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
7 And he set the graven image of the idol, which he had made, 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, will I put my name for ever:
8 neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances `given' by Moses.
9 And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did evil more than did the nations whom Jehovah destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And Jehovah spake to Manasseh, and to his people; but they gave no heed.
11 Wherefore Jehovah brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
12 And when he was in distress, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
13 And he prayed unto him; and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah he was God.
14 Now after this he built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate; and he compassed Ophel about `with it', and raised it up to a very great height: and he put valiant captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.
15 And he took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of Jehovah, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
16 And he built up the altar of Jehovah, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace-offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah, the God of Israel.
17 Nevertheless the people sacrificed still in the high places, but only unto Jehovah their God.
18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel.
19 His prayer also, and how `God' was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up the Asherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of Hozai.
20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
21 Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
22 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as did Manasseh his father; and Amon sacrificed unto all the graven images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them.
23 And he humbled not himself before Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon trespassed more and more.
24 And his servants conspired against him, and put him to death in his own house.
25 But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.
1 A son of twelve years is Manasseh in his reigning, and fifty and five years he hath reigned in Jerusalem;
2 and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, like the abominations of the nations that Jehovah dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel,
3 and he turneth and buildeth the high places that Hezekiah his father hath broken down, and raiseth altars for Baalim, and maketh shrines, and boweth himself to all the host of the heavens, and serveth them.
4 And he hath built altars in the house of Jehovah of which Jehovah had said, `In Jerusalem is My name to the age.'
5 And he buildeth altars to all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of Jehovah.
6 And he hath caused his sons to pass over through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and observed clouds and used enchantments and witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and a wizard; he hath multiplied to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
7 And he placeth the graven image of the idol that he made in the house of God, of which God said unto David, and unto Solomon his son, `In this house, and in Jerusalem that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I put My name to the age,
8 and I add not to turn aside the foot of Israel from off the ground that I appointed to your fathers, only, if they watch to do all that I have commanded them -- to all the law, and the statutes, and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.'
9 And Manasseh maketh Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, to do evil above the nations that Jehovah destroyed from the presence of the sons of Israel.
10 And Jehovah speaketh unto Manasseh and unto his people, and they have not attended,
11 and Jehovah bringeth in against them the heads of the host that the king of Asshur hath, and they capture Manasseh among the thickets, and bind him with brazen fetters, and cause him to go to Babylon.
12 And when he is in distress he hath appeased the face of Jehovah his God, and is humbled exceedingly before the God of his fathers,
13 and prayeth unto Him, and He is entreated of him, and heareth his supplication, and bringeth him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom, and Manasseh knoweth that Jehovah -- He `is' God.
14 And after this he hath built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west of Gihon, in the valley, and at the entering in at the fish-gate, and it hath gone round to the tower, and he maketh it exceeding high, and he putteth heads of the force in all the cities of the bulwarks in Judah.
15 And he turneth aside the gods of the stranger, and the idol, out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of Jehovah and in Jerusalem, and casteth `them' to the outside of the city.
16 And he buildeth the altar of Jehovah, and sacrificeth upon it sacrifices of peace-offerings and thank-offering, and saith to Judah to serve Jehovah, God of Israel;
17 but still the people are sacrificing in high places, only -- to Jehovah their God.
18 And the rest of the matters of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the matters of the seers, those speaking unto him in the name of Jehovah, God of Israel, lo, they are `on the book of' the matters of the kings of Israel;
19 and his prayer, and his entreaty, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places in which he had built high places, and established the shrines and the graven images before his being humbled, lo, they are written beside the matters of Hozai.
20 And Manasseh lieth with his fathers, and they bury him in his own house, and reign doth Amon his son in his stead.
21 A son of twenty and two years `is' Amon in his reigning, and two years he hath reigned in Jerusalem,
22 and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, as did Manasseh his father, and to all the graven images that Manasseh his father had made hath Amon sacrificed, and serveth them,
23 and hath not been humbled before Jehovah, like the humbling of Manasseh his father, for Amon himself hath multiplied guilt.
24 And his servants conspire against him, and put him to death in his own house,
25 and the people of the land smite all those conspiring against king Amon, and the people of the land cause Josiah his son to reign in his stead.
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2 And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, like the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed from before the children of Israel.
3 And he built again the high places that Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars to the Baals, and made Asherahs, and worshipped all the host of heaven and served them.
4 And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, of which Jehovah had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.
5 And he built altars to all the host of heaven in both courts of the house of Jehovah.
6 He also caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he used magic and divination and sorcery, and appointed necromancers and soothsayers: he wrought evil beyond measure in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger.
7 And he set the graven image of the idol that he had made, in the house of God, of which God had 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, will I put my name for ever;
8 neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land that I have appointed to your fathers; if they will only take heed to do all that I commanded them through Moses, according to all the law and the statutes and the ordinances.
9 And Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations that Jehovah had destroyed from before the children of Israel.
10 And Jehovah spoke to Manasseh and to his people; but they did not hearken.
11 And Jehovah brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with fetters, and bound him with chains of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
12 And when he was in affliction, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,
13 and prayed to him. And he was intreated of him and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah, he was God.
14 And after this he built the outer wall of the city of David, on the west, toward Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the fish-gate, and carried it round Ophel, and raised it up a very great height; and he put captains of war in all the fortified cities of Judah.
15 And he removed the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built on the mount of the house of Jehovah and in Jerusalem, and cast [them] out of the city.
16 And he reinstated the altar of Jehovah, and sacrificed on it peace-offerings and thank-offerings, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah the God of Israel.
17 Nevertheless, the people sacrificed still on the high places, although to Jehovah their God only.
18 And the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers that spoke to him in the name of Jehovah the God of Israel, behold, they [are written] in the acts of the kings of Israel.
19 And his prayer, and [how God] was intreated of him, and all his sin and his unfaithfulness, and the places in which he built high places, and set up Asherahs and graven images, before he was humbled, behold, they are written among the words of Hozai.
20 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house; and Amon his son reigned in his stead.
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
22 And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had done; and Amon sacrificed to all the graven images that Manasseh his father had made, and served them.
23 And he did not humble himself before Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; for he, Amon, multiplied trespass.
24 And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.
25 But the people of the land smote all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he reared up altars for the Baals, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of the sky, and served them.
4 He built altars in the house of Yahweh, of which Yahweh said, In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.
5 He built altars for all the host of the sky in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.
6 He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he practiced sorcery, and used enchantments, and practiced sorcery, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits, and with wizards: he worked much evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.
7 He set the engraved image of the idol, which he had made, 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, will I put my name forever:
8 neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances [given] by Moses.
9 Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did evil more than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 Yahweh spoke to Manasseh, and to his people; but they gave no heed.
11 Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
12 When he was in distress, he begged Yahweh his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
13 He prayed to him; and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh he was God.
14 Now after this he built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate; and he compassed Ophel about [with it], and raised it up to a very great height: and he put valiant captains in all the fortified cities of Judah.
15 He took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of Yahweh, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of the house of Yahweh, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
16 He built up the altar of Yahweh, and offered thereon sacrifices of peace-offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel.
17 Nevertheless the people sacrificed still in the high places, but only to Yahweh their God.
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 Yahweh, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel.
19 His prayer also, and how [God] was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places, and set up the Asherim and the engraved images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of Hozai.
20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his place.
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
22 He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as did Manasseh his father; and Amon sacrificed to all the engraved images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them.
23 He didn't humble himself before Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon trespassed more and more.
24 His servants conspired against him, and put him to death 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 Josiah his son king in his place.
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he was ruling for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel.
3 For he put up again the high places which had been pulled down by his father Hezekiah; and he made altars for the Baals, and pillars of wood, and was a worshipper and servant of all the stars of heaven;
4 And he made altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem will my name be for ever.
5 And he made altars for all the stars of heaven in the two outer squares of the house of the Lord.
6 More than this, he made his children go through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom; and he made use of secret arts, and signs for reading the future, and unnatural powers, and gave positions to those who had control of spirits and to wonder-workers: he did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath.
7 And he put the image he had made in the house of God, the house of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
8 And never again will I let the feet of Israel be moved out of the land which I have given to their fathers; if only they will take care to do all my orders, even all the law and the orders and the rules given to them by Moses.
9 And Manasseh made Judah and the people of Jerusalem go out of the true way, so that they did more evil than those nations whom the Lord gave up to destruction before the children of Israel.
10 And the word of the Lord came to Manasseh and his people, but they gave no attention.
11 So the Lord sent against them the captains of the army of Assyria, who made Manasseh a prisoner and took him away in chains to Babylon.
12 And crying out to the Lord his God in his trouble, he made himself low before the God of his fathers,
13 And made prayer to him; and in answer to his prayer God let him come back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh was certain that the Lord was God.
14 After this he made an outer wall for the town of David, on the west side of Gihon in the valley, as far as the way into the town by the fish doorway; and he put a very high wall round the Ophel; and he put captains of the army in all the walled towns of Judah.
15 He took away the strange gods and the image out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars he had put up on the hill of the Lord's house and in Jerusalem, and put them out of the town.
16 And he put the altar of the Lord in order, offering peace-offerings and praise-offerings on it, and said that all Judah were to be servants of the Lord, the God of Israel.
17 However, the people still made offerings in the high places, but only to the Lord their God.
18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words which the seers said to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are recorded among the acts of the kings of Israel.
19 And the prayer which he made to God, and how God gave him an answer, and all his sin and his wrongdoing, and the places where he made high places and put up pillars of wood and images, before he put away his pride, are recorded in the history of the seers.
20 So Manasseh went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body to rest in his house, and Amon his son became king in his place.
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king; and he was ruling for two years in Jerusalem.
22 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done; and Amon made offerings to all the images which his father Manasseh had made, and was their servant.
23 He did not make himself low before the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done, but went on sinning more and more.
24 And his servants made a secret design against him, and put him to death in his house.
25 But the people of the land put to death all those who had taken part in the design against King Amon, and made his son Josiah king in his place.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 33
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 33 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The reign of Manasseh; cf. 2 Kings 21:1-18. - The characteristics of this king's reign, and of the idolatry which he again introduced, and increased in a measure surpassing all his predecessors (2 Chronicles 33:1-9), agrees almost verbally with 2 Kings 21:1-9. Here and there an expression is rhetorically generalized and intensified, e.g., by the plurals לבּעלים and אשׁרות (2 Chronicles 33:3) instead of the sing. לבּעל and אשׁרה (Kings), and בּנין (2 Chronicles 33:6) instead of בּנו (see on 2 Chronicles 28:3); by the addition of וכשּׁף to ונחשׁ עונן , and of the name the Vale of Hinnom, 2 Chronicles 33:6 (see on Joshua 15:18, גּי for גּיא ); by heaping up words for the law and its commandments (2 Chronicles 33:8); and other small deviations, of which הסּמל פּסל (2 Chronicles 33:7) instead of האשׁרה פּסל (Kings) is the most important. The word סמל , sculpture or statue, is derived from Deuteronomy 4:16, but has perhaps been taken by the author of the Chronicle from Ezekiel 8:3, where סמל probably denotes the statue of Asherah. The form עילום for עולם (2 Chronicles 33:7) is not elsewhere met with.
At 2 Chronicles 33:10, the account in the Chronicle diverges from that in 2 Kings. In 2 Kings 21:10-16 it is related how the Lord caused it to be proclaimed by the prophets, that in punishment of Manasseh's sins Jerusalem would be destroyed, and the people given into the power of their enemies, and how Manasseh filled Jerusalem with the shedding of innocent blood. Instead of this, in 2 Chronicles 33:10 of the Chronicle it is only briefly said that the Lord spake to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken; and then in 2 Chronicles 33:11-17 it is narrated that Manasseh was led away to Babylon by the king of Assyria's captains of the host; in his trouble turned to the Lord his God, and prayed; was thereupon brought by God back to Jerusalem; after his return, fortified Jerusalem with a new wall; set commanders over all the fenced cities of Judah; abolished the idolatry in the temple and the city, and restored the worship of Jahve.
As Manasseh would not hear the words of the prophets, the Lord brought upon him the captains of the host of the king of Assyria. These “took him with hooks, and bound him with double chains of brass, and brought him to Babylon.” בחוחים ילכּדוּ signifies neither, they took him prisoner in thorns (hid in the thorns), nor in a place called Chochim (which is not elsewhere found), but they took him with hooks. חוח denotes the hook or ring which was drawn through the gills of large fish when taken (Job 41:2), and is synonymous with חח (2 Kings 19:28; Ezekiel 19:4), a ring which was passed through the noses of wild beasts to subdue and lead them. The expression is figurative, as in the passages quoted from the prophets. Manasseh is represented as an unmanageable beast, which the Assyrian generals took and subdued by a ring in the nose. The figurative expression is explained by the succeeding clause: they bound him with double chains. נחשׁתּים are double fetters of brass, with which the feet of prisoners were bound (2 Samuel 3:34; Judges 16:21; 2 Chronicles 36:6, etc.).
לו וּכהצר = לו הצר וּבעת , 2 Chronicles 28:22. In this his affliction he bowed himself before the Lord God of his fathers, and besought Him; and the Lord was entreated of him, and brought him again to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. The prayer which Manasseh prayed in his need was contained, according to 2 Chronicles 33:18., in the histories of the kings of Israel, and in the sayings of the prophet Hozai, but has not come down to our day. The “prayer of Manasseh” given by the lxx is an apocryphal production, composed in Greek; cf. my Introduction to the Old Testament , § 247.
After his return, Manasseh took measures to secure his kingdom, and especially the capital, against hostile attacks. “He built an outer wall of the city of David westward towards Gihon in the valley, and in the direction of the fish-gate; and he surrounded the Ophel, and made it very high.” The words היצונה חומה (without the article) point to the building of a new wall. But since it has been already recorded of Hezekiah, in 2 Chronicles 32:5, that he built “the other wall without,” all modern expositors, even Arnold in Herz.'s Realenc . xviii. S. 634, assume the identity of the two walls, and understand ויּבן of the completion and heightening of that “other wall” of which it is said מאד ויּגבּיהה , and which shut in Zion from the lower city to the north. In that case, of course, we must make the correction החומה . The words “westward towards Gihon in the valley, and לבוא ב , in the direction to (towards) the fish-gate,” are then to be taken as describing the course of this wall from its centre, first towards the west, and then towards the east. For the valley of Gihon lay, in all probability, outside of the western city gate, which occupied the place of the present Jaffa gate. But the fish-gate was, according to Nehemiah 3:3, at the east end of this wall, at no great distance from the tower on the north-east corner. The valley ( הנּהל ) is a hollow between the upper city (Zion) and the lower (Acra), probably the beginning of the valley, which at its south-eastern opening, between Zion and Moriah, is called Tyropoion in Josephus. The words, “he surrounded the Ophel,” sc. with a wall, are not to be connected with the preceding clauses, as Berth. connects them, translating, “he carried the wall from the north-east corner farther to the south, and then round the Ophel;” for “between the north-east corner and the Ophel wall lay the whole east wall of the city, as far as to the south-east corner of the temple area, which yet cannot be regarded as a continuation of the wall to the Ophel wall” (Arnold, loc. cit. ). Jotham had already built a great deal at the Ophel wall (2 Chronicles 27:3). Manasseh must therefore only have strengthened it, and increased its height. On the words שׂ ויּשׂם cf. 2 Chronicles 32:6 and 2 Chronicles 17:2.
And he also removed the idols and the statues from the house of the Lord, i.e., out of the two courts of the temple (2 Chronicles 33:5), and caused the idolatrous altars which he had built upon the temple hill and in Jerusalem to be cast forth from the city. In 2 Chronicles 33:16, instead of the Keth. ויבן , he built (restored) the altar of Jahve, many manuscripts and ancient editions read ויכן , he prepared the altar of Jahve. This variation has perhaps originated in an orthographical error, and it is difficult to decide which reading is the original. The Vulg. translates יבן restauravit . That Manasseh first removed the altar of Jahve from the court, and then restored it, as Ewald thinks, is not very probable; for in that case its removal would certainly have been mentioned in 2 Chronicles 33:3. Upon the altar thus restored Manasseh then offered thank-offerings and peace-offerings, and also commanded his subjects to worship Jahve the God of Israel. But the people still sacrificed on the high places, yet unto Jahve their God.
“As to the carrying away of Manasseh,” says Bertheau, “we have no further information in the Old Testament, which is not surprising, seeing that in the books of Kings there is only a very short notice as to the long period embraced by Manasseh's reign and that of Amon.” He therefore, with Ew., Mov., Then., and others, does not scruple to recognise this fact as historical, and to place his captivity in the time of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon. He however believes, with Ew. and Mov., that the statements as to the removal of idols and altars from the temple and Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 33:15) is inconsistent with the older account in 2 Kings 23:6 and 2 Kings 23:12, the clear statements of which, moreover, our historian does not communicate in 2 Chronicles 34:3. For even if the Astarte removed by Josiah need not have been the הסּמל of our chapter, yet it is expressly said that only by Josiah were the altars built by Manasseh broken down; yet we would scarcely be justified in supposing that Manasseh removed them, perhaps only laid them aside, that Amon again set them up in the courts, and that Josiah at length destroyed them. It does not thence follow, of course, that the narrative of the repentance and conversion of Manasseh rests upon no historic foundation; rather it is just such a narrative as would be supplemented by accounts of the destruction of the idolatrous altars and the statue of Astarte: for that might be regarded as the necessary result of the conversion, without any definite statement being made.
(Note: From this supposed contradiction, R. H. Graf, “ die Gefangenschaft u. Bekehrung Manasse ' s, 2 Chron 33, ” in the Theol. Studien u. Kritiken, 1859, iii. S. 467ff., and in the book, die geschichtl. Literatur A. Test. 1866, 2 Abhdl., following Gramberg, and with the concurrence of H. Nöldeke, die alttestl. Literatur in einer Reihe von Aufsätzen dargestellt (1868), S. 59f., has drawn the conclusion that the accounts given in the Chronicle, not only of Manasseh ' s conversion, but also of his being led captive to Babylon, are merely fictions, or inventions - poetical popular myths. On the other hand, E. Gerlach, in the Theol. Stud. u. Krit. 1861, iii. S. 503ff., has shown the superficiality of Graf ' s essay, and defended effectively the historical character of both narratives.)
Against this we have the following objections to make: Can we well imagine repentance and conversion on Manasseh's part without the removal of the abominations of idolatry, at least from the temple of the Lord? And why should we not suppose that Manasseh removed the idol altars from the temple and Jerusalem, but that Amon, who did evil as did his father Manasseh, and sacrificed to all the images which he had made (2 Kings 21:21.; 2 Chronicles 33:22), again set them up in the courts of the temple, and placed the statue again in the temple, and that only by Josiah were they destroyed? In 2 Kings 23:6 it is indeed said, Josiah removed the Asherah from the house of Jahve, took it forth from Jerusalem, and burnt it, and ground it to dust in the valley of Kidron; and in 2 Chronicles 33:12, that Josiah beat down and brake the altars which Manasseh had made in both courts of the house of Jahve, and threw the dust of them into Kidron. But where do we find it written in the Chronicle that Manasseh, after his return from Babylon, beat down, and brake, and ground to powder the סמל in the house of Jahve, and the altars on the temple mount and in Jerusalem? In 2 Chronicles 33:15 we only find it stated that he cast these things forth from the city ( לעיר חוּצה ישׁלך ). Is casting out of the city identical with breaking down and crushing, as Bertheau and others assume? The author of the Chronicle, at least, can distinguish between removing ( הסיר ) and breaking down and crushing. Cf. 2 Chronicles 15:16, where הסיר is sharply distinguished from כּרת and הדק ; further, 2 Chronicles 31:1 and 2 Chronicles 34:4, where the verbs שׁבּר , גּדּע , and הדק are used of the breaking in pieces and destroying of images and altars by Hezekiah and Josiah. He uses none of these verbs of the removal of the images and altars by Manasseh, but only ויסר and לעיר חוּצה וישׁלך (2 Chronicles 33:15). If we take the words exactly as they stand in the text of the Bible, every appearance of contradiction disappears.
(Note: In this matter Movers too has gone very superficially to work, remarking in support of the contradiction ( bibl. Chron. S. 328): “ If Manasseh was so zealous a penitent, it may be asked, Would he not have destroyed all idolatrous images, according to the Mosaic law, as the Chronicle itself, 2 Chronicles 33:15 (cf. 2 Chronicles 29:17; 2 Chronicles 15:16; 2 Kings 23:12), sufficiently shows? Had idolatry ceased in all Judah in the last year of Manasseh ' s reign, as is stated in 2 Chronicles 33:17, could it, during the two years ' reign of his son Amon, have spread abroad in a manner hitherto unheard of in Jewish history, as it is portrayed under Josiah, 2 Kings 23:4.? ” But where is it stated in the Chronicle that Manasseh was so zealous a penitent as to have destroyed the images according to the Mosaic law? Not even the restoration of the Jahve-worship according to the provisions of the law is once spoken of, as it is in the case of Hezekiah and of Josiah (cf. 2 Chronicles 30:5 and 2 Chronicles 30:16, 2 Chronicles 34:21; 2 Chronicles 35:26); and does it follow from the fact that Judah, in consequence of Manasseh ' s command to serve Jahve, still sacrificed in the high places, yet to Jahve, that under Manasseh idolatry ceased throughout Judah? )
From what is said in the Chronicle of Manasseh's deeds, we cannot conclude that he was fully converted to the Lord. That Manasseh prayed to Jahve in his imprisonment, and by his deliverance from it and his restoration to Jerusalem came to see that Jahve was God ( האלהים ), who must be worshipped in His temple at Jerusalem, and that he consequently removed the images and the idolatrous altars from the temple and the city, and cast them forth-these facts do not prove a thorough conversion, much less “that he made amends for his sin by repentance and improvement” (Mov.), but merely attest the restoration of the Jahve-worship in the temple, which had previously been completely suspended. But the idolatry in Jerusalem and Judah was not thereby extirpated; it was only in so far repressed that it could not longer be publicly practised in the temple. Still less was idolatry rooted out of the hearts of the people by the command that the people were to worship Jahve, the God of Israel. There is not a single word of Manasseh's conversion to Jahve, the God of the fathers, with all his heart ( שׁלם בּלב ). Can it then surprise us, that after Manasseh's death, under his son Amon, walking as he did in the sins of his father, these external barriers fell straightway, and idolatry again publicly appeared in all its proportions and extent, and that the images and altars of the idols which had been cast out of Jerusalem were again set up in the temple and its courts? If even the pious Josiah, with all his efforts for the extirpation of idolatry and the revivification of the legal worship, could not accomplish more than the restoration, during his reign, of the temple service according to the law, while after his death idolatry again prevailed under Jehoiakim, what could Manasseh's half-measures effect? If this be the true state of the case in regard to Manasseh's conversion, the passages 2 Kings 24:3; 2 Kings 23:26; Jeremiah 15:4, where it is said that the Lord had cast out Judah from His presence because of the sins of Manasseh, cease to give any support to the opposite view. Manasseh is here named as the person who by his godlessness made the punishment of Judah and Jerusalem unavoidable, because he so corrupted Judah by his sins, that it could not now thoroughly turn to the Lord, but always fell back into the sins of Manasseh. Similarly, in 2 Kings 17:21 and 2 Kings 17:22, it is said of the ten tribes that the Lord cast them out from His presence because they walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, and departed not from them.
With the removal of the supposed inconsistency between the statement in the Chronicle as to Manasseh's change of sentiment, and the account of his godlessness in 2 Kings 21, every reason for suspecting the account of Manasseh's removal to Babylon as a prisoner disappears; for even Graf admits that the mere silence of the book of Kings can prove nothing, since the books of Kings do not record many other events which are recorded in the Chronicle and are proved to be historical. This statement, however, is thoroughly confirmed, both by its own contents and by its connection with other well-attested historical facts. According to 2 Chronicles 33:14, Manasseh fortified Jerusalem still more strongly after his return to the throne by building a new wall. This statement, which has as yet been called in question by no judicious critic, is so intimately connected with the statements in the Chronicle as to his being taken prisoner, and the removal of the images from the temple, that by it these latter are attested as historical. From this we learn that the author of the Chronicle had at his command authorities which contained more information as to Manasseh's reign than is to be found in our books of Kings, and so the references to these special authorities which follow in 2 Chronicles 33:18, 2 Chronicles 33:19 are corroborated. Moreover, the fortifying of Jerusalem after his return from his imprisonment presupposes that he had had such an experience as impelled him to take measures to secure himself against a repetition of hostile surprises. To this we must add the statement that Manasseh was led away by the generals of the Assyrian king to Babylon . The Assyrian kings Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser (or Sargon) did not carry away the Israelites to Babylon, but to Assyria; and the arrival of ambassadors from the Babylonian king Merodach-Baladan in Jerusalem, in the time of Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:12; Isaiah 39:1), shows that at that time Babylon was independent of Assyria. The poetic popular legend would without doubt have made Manasseh also to be carried away to Assyria by the troops of the Assyrian king, not to Babylon. The statement that he was carried away to Babylon by Assyrian warriors rests upon the certainty that Babylon was then a province of the Assyrian empire; and this is corroborated by history. According to the accounts of Abydenus and Alexander Polyhistor, borrowed from Berosus, which have been preserved in Euseb. Chr. arm. i. p. 42f., Sennacherib brought Babylon, the government of which had been usurped by Belibus, again into subjection, and made his son Esarhaddon king over it, as his representative. The subjection of the Babylonians is confirmed by the Assyrian monuments, which state that Sennacherib had to march against the rebels in Babylon at the very beginning of his reign; and then again, in the fourth year of it, that he subdued them, and set over them a new viceroy (see M. Duncker, Gesch. des Alterth. i. S. 697f. and 707f. and ii. S. 592f., der 3 Aufl.). Afterwards, when Sennacherib met his death at the hand of his sons (2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38), his oldest son Esarhaddon, the viceroy of Babylon, advanced with his army, pursued the flying parricides, and after slaying them ascended the throne of Assyria, 680 b.c.
(Note: So Jul. Oppert, “ die biblische Chronologie festgestellt nach den Assyrischen Keilschriften , ” in d. Ztschr. der deutsch. morgenl. Gesellsch. (xxiii. S. 134), 1869, S. 144; while Duncker, loc. cit. i. S. 709, on the ground of the divergent statement of Berosus as to the reign of Esarhaddon, and according to other chronological combinations, gives the year 693 b.c., - a date which harmonizes neither with Sennacherib ' s inscriptions, so far as these have yet been deciphered, nor with the statements of the Kanon Ptol. , nor with biblical chronology. It, moreover, makes it necessary to shorten the fifty-five years of Manasseh ' s reign to thirty-five, which is all the more arbitrary as the chronological data of the Kanon Ptol. harmonize with the biblical chronology and establish their accuracy, as I have already pointed out in my apolog. Vers. über die Chron. S. 429f.)
Of Esarhaddon, who reigned thirteen years (from 680 to 667), we learn from Ezra 4:2, col. with 2 Kings 24:17, that he brought colonists to Samaria from Babylon, Cutha, and other districts of his kingdom; and Abydenus relates of him, according to Berosus (in Euseb. Chron. i. p. 54), that Axerdis (i.e., without doubt Esarhaddon) subdued Lower Syria, i.e., the districts of Syria bordering on the sea, to himself anew. From these we may, I think, conclude that not only the transporting of the colonists into the depopulated kingdom of the ten tribes is connected with this expedition against Syria, but that on this occasion also Assyrian generals took King Manasseh prisoner, and carried him away to Babylon, as Ewald ( Gesch. iii. S. 678), and Duncker, S. 715, with older chronologists and expositors (Usher, des Vignoles, Calmet, Ramb., J. D. Mich., and others), suppose. The transport of Babylonian colonists to Samaria is said in Seder Olam rab. p. 67, ed. Meyer, and by D. Kimchi, according to Talmudic tradition, to have taken place in the twenty-second year of Manasseh's reign; and this statement gains confirmation from the fact - as was remarked by Jac. Cappell. and Usher - that the period of sixty-five years after which, according to the prophecy in Isaiah 7:8, Ephraim was to be destroyed so that it should no more be a people, came to an end with the twenty-second year of Manasseh, and Ephraim, i.e., Israel of the ten tribes, did indeed cease to be a people only with the immigration of heathen colonists into its land (cf. Del. on Isaiah 7:8). But the twenty-second year of Manasseh corresponds to the year 776 b.c. and the fourth year of Esarhaddon.
By this agreement with extra-biblical narratives in its statement of facts and in its chronology, the narrative in the Chronicle of Manasseh's captivity in Babylon is raised above every doubt, and is corroborated even by the Assyrian monuments. “We now know,” remarks Duncker (ii. S. 92) in this connection, “that Esarhaddon says in his inscriptions that twenty-two kings of Syria hearkened to him: he numbers among them Minasi (Manasseh of Judah) and the kings of Cyprus.” As to the details both of his capture and his liberation, we cannot make even probable conjectures, since we have only a few bare notices of Esarhaddon's reign; and even his building works, which might have given us some further information, were under the influence of a peculiarly unlucky star, for the palace built by him at Kalah or Nimrod remained unfinished, and was then destroyed by a great fire (cf. Spiegel in Herz.'s Realencykl. xx. S. 225). Yet, from the fact that in 2 Chronicles 33:1, as in 2 Kings 21:1, the duration of Manasseh's reign is stated to have been fifty-five years, without any mention being made of an interruption, we may probably draw this conclusion at least, that the captivity did not last long, and that he received his liberty upon a promise to pay tribute, although he appears not to have kept this promise, or only for a short period. For that, in the period between Hezekiah and Josiah, Judah must have come into a certain position of dependence upon Assyria, cannot be concluded from 2 Kings 23:19 (cf. 2 Chronicles 33:15 with 17:28) and 2 Chr 23:29, as E. Gerlach thinks.
Conclusion of Manasseh's history. His other acts, his prayer, and words of the prophets of the Lord against him, were recorded in the history of the kings of Israel; while special accounts of his prayer, and how it was heard ( העתר־לו , the letting Himself be entreated, i.e., how God heard him), of his sons, and the high places, altars, and images which he erected before his humiliation, were contained in the sayings of Hozai (see the Introduction).
Manasseh was buried in his house, or, according to the more exact statement in 2 Kings 21:18, in the garden of his house - in the garden of Uzza; see on that passage.
The reign of Amon . Cf. 2 Kings 21:19-26. - Both accounts agree; only in the Chronicle, as is also the case with Manasseh and Ahaz, the name of his mother is omitted, and the description of his godless deeds is somewhat more brief than in Kings, while the remark is added that he did not humble himself like Manasseh, but increased the guilt. In the account of his death there is nothing said of his funeral, nor is there any reference to the sources of his history. See the commentary on 2 Kings 21:19.