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.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Chronicles 33
Commentary on 2 Chronicles 33 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 33
In this chapter we have the history of the reign,
2Ch 33:1-10
We have here an account of the great wickedness of Manasseh. It is the same almost word for word with that which we had 2 Ki. 21:1-9, and took a melancholy view of. It is no such pleasing subject that we should delight to dwell upon it again. This foolish young prince, in contradiction to the good example and good education his father gave him, abandoned himself to all impiety, transcribed the abominations of the heathen (v. 2), ruined the established religion, unravelled his father's glorious reformation (v. 3), profaned the house of God with his idolatry (v. 4, 5), dedicated his children to Moloch, and made the devil's lying oracles his guides and his counsellors, v. 6. In contempt of the choice God had made of Sion to be his rest for ever and Israel to be his covenant-people (v. 8), and the fair terms he stood upon with God, he embraced other gods, profaned God's chosen temple, and debauched his chosen people. He made them to err, and do worse than the heathen (v. 9); for, if the unclean spirit returns, he brings with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself. That which aggravated the sin of Manasseh was that God spoke to him and his people by the prophets, but they would not hearken, v. 10. We may here admire the grace of God in speaking to them, and their obstinacy in turning a deaf ear to him, that either their badness did not quite turn away his goodness, but still he waited to be gracious, or that his goodness did not turn them from their badness, but still they hated to be reformed. Now from this let us learn,
2Ch 33:11-20
We have seen Manasseh by his wickedness undoing the good that his father had done; here we have him by repentance undoing the evil that he himself had done. It is strange that this was not so much as mentioned in the book of Kings, nor does any thing appear there to the contrary but that he persisted and perished in his son. But perhaps the reason was because the design of that history was to show the wickedness of the nation which brought destruction upon them; and this repentance of Manasseh and the benefit of it, being personal only and not national, is overlooked there; yet here it is fully related, and a memorable instance it is of the riches of God's pardoning mercy and the power of his renewing grace. Here is,
2Ch 33:21-25
We have little recorded concerning Amon, but enough unless it were better. Here is,