2 Chronicles 33

Judah’s King Manasseh

1 Manasseh was twelve years old  * 33:1–9 2Kg 21:1–9 when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.  * 33:2 2Ch 28:33 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down  * 33:3 2Kg 18:4; 2Ch 31:1 and reestablished the altars for the Baals. He made Asherah poles, and he bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served them. 4 He built altars  * 33:4 2Ch 28:24 in the Lord’s temple, where the Lord had said, "Jerusalem is where my name will remain forever."  * 33:4 2Ch 7:165 He built altars to all the stars in the sky in both courtyards  * 33:5 2Ch 4:9 of the Lord’s temple. 6 He passed his sons through the fire in Ben Hinnom Valley.  * 33:6 2Kg 16:3; 2Ch 28:3 He practiced witchcraft, divination, and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists.  * 33:6 Lv 19:31; 20:27; 2Kg 23:24 He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him.

7 Manasseh  * 33:7–8 1Kg 9:1–9 set up a carved image of the idol, which he had made, in God’s temple  * 33:7 Dt 16:21 that God had spoken about to David and his son Solomon: "I will establish my name forever  * 33:7 LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg; 2Kg 21:7; MT reads name for Elom,* 33:7 2Kg 21:7 in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.  * 33:7 Dt 12:5; 1Kg 11:328 I will never again remove the feet of the Israelites from the land where I stationed your  * 33:8 LXX, Syr, Vg read land I gave to their; 2Kg 21:8,* 33:8 2Kg 21:8 ancestors,  * 33:8 2Sm 7:10 if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them through Moses — all the law, statutes, and judgments." 9 So Manasseh caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to stray so that they did worse evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

Manasseh’s Repentance

10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they didn’t listen.  * 33:10 2Kg 21:10–1611 So he brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.  * 33:11 2Ch 36:612 When he was in distress, he sought the favor of the Lord his God and earnestly humbled himself  * 33:12 2Ch 32:26 before the God of his ancestors. 13 He prayed to him, and the Lord was receptive to his prayer. He granted his request  * 33:13 Ezr 8:23 and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. So Manasseh came to know that the Lord is God.  * 33:13 Dn 4:32

14 After this, he built the outer wall of the city of David from west of Gihon  * 33:14 1Kg 1:33; 2Ch 32:30 in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate;  * 33:14 Neh 3:3 he brought it around Ophel,  * 33:14 2Ch 27:3 and he heightened it considerably. He also placed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

15 He removed the foreign gods and the idol  * 33:15 2Ch 33:3–7 from the Lord’s temple, along with all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the Lord’s temple and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. 16 He built  * 33:16 Some Hb mss, Syr, Tg, Arabic; other Hb mss, LXX, Vg read restored the altar of the Lord and offered fellowship and thanksgiving sacrifices on it. Then he told Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. 17 However, the people still sacrificed at the high places,  * 33:17 2Ch 32:12 but only to the Lord their God.

Manasseh’s Death

18 The rest of the events  * 33:18–25 2Kg 21:17–24 of Manasseh’s reign, along with his prayer  * 33:18 2Ch 33:12–13 to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, are written in the Events of Israel’s Kings. 19 His prayer and how God was receptive to his prayer, and all his sin and unfaithfulness and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself, they are written in the Events of Hozai. 20 Manasseh rested with his ancestors, and he was buried in his own house. His son Amon became king in his place.

Judah’s King Amon

21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father Manasseh had done.  * 33:22 2Ch 33:2 Amon sacrificed to all the carved images that his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. 23 But he did not humble himself before the Lord like his father Manasseh humbled himself;  * 33:23 2Ch 33:12,19 instead, Amon increased his guilt.

24 So his servants conspired against him and put him to death  * 33:24 2Ch 25:27 in his own house. 25 The common people  * 33:25 Lit The people of the land killed all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.