Manasseh Reigns in Judah
(2 Kings 21:1–9)
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. 2Ki 21:1-181Ch 3:132Ch 32:33Ecc 10:16Isa 3:12Isa 3:4Mat 1:102Ch 34:1-2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 2Ch 28:3Deu 18:92Ch 36:142Ki 17:112Ki 17:152Ki 21:22Ki 21:9Deu 12:31 For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down, and he raised up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. And he worshiped and served all the host of heaven. Deu 16:21Deu 17:32Ch 31:12Ch 30:142Ki 18:42Ki 23:5-6Ecc 9:18Jer 19:13
Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.” 2Ch 7:161Ki 8:292Ch 6:6Deu 12:111Ki 9:32Ch 32:192Ch 33:152Ch 34:3-4 In both courtyards of the house of the LORD, he built altars to all the host of heaven. 2Ch 4:9Ezk 8:7-18Jer 32:34-35 He sacrificed his sons in the fire 1in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger. 2Ch 28:32Ki 21:6Lev 18:21Lev 19:26Lev 19:31Lev 20:61Ch 10:13Isa 47:9-12
Manasseh even took the carved image he had made and set it up in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever. 2Ch 33:42Ch 7:161Ki 11:131Ki 11:321Ki 8:291Ki 8:441Ki 8:482Ch 33:15 I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to leave the land that I assigned to your fathers, if only they are careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses—all the laws, statutes, and judgments.” 2Sa 7:101Ch 17:92Ch 7:17-22Deu 27:26Deu 30:15-20Deu 4:40Deu 5:1Deu 5:31
So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites. 2Ch 33:22Ki 24:3-4Pro 29:121Ki 14:161Ki 15:262Ki 17:8-112Ki 21:162Ki 21:9-11
Manasseh’s Repentance and Restoration
(2 Kings 21:10–18)
And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not listen. 2Ch 36:15-16Act 7:51-52Jer 25:4-7Jer 44:4-5Neh 9:29-30Zec 1:4 So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. Deu 28:362Ch 36:61Sa 13:62Ki 23:332Ki 25:6Isa 10:8Isa 36:9Isa 5:26-30 And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. Exo 10:32Ch 32:26Psa 50:15Luk 18:14-151Pe 5:5-6Act 9:11Deu 4:30-31Hos 5:15 And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God. 1Ch 5:20Dan 4:25Ezr 8:23Jer 29:12-13Mat 6:33Mat 7:7-8Jer 24:7Dan 4:34-35
After this, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David from west of Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and he brought it around the hill of Ophel and heightened it considerably. He also stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. 1Ki 1:332Ch 27:3Neh 3:3Neh 12:39Zep 1:101Ki 1:452Ch 11:11-122Ch 17:19
He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, along with all the altars he had built on the temple mount 2and in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city. 2Ch 33:3-72Ki 21:7Ezk 18:20-22Hos 14:1-3Isa 2:17-21Mat 3:8 Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and he told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. 1Ki 18:302Ch 14:42Ch 29:182Ch 30:122Ch 33:9Gen 18:19Lev 3:1-17Lev 7:11-18 Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God. 2Ch 32:121Ki 22:432Ch 15:172Ki 15:4
As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, along with his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, they are indeed written in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. 3 2Ch 33:192Ch 33:12-132Ch 20:34Amo 7:12Isa 30:101Ki 14:191Ki 15:311Sa 9:9 His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers. 4 1Jn 1:9Act 9:11Dan 5:22Jer 44:10Rom 5:162Ch 36:12Pro 15:8Psa 119:67 And Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried at his palace. And his son Amon reigned in his place. Mat 1:101Ch 3:142Ch 32:332Ki 21:18-25
Amon Reigns in Judah
(2 Kings 21:19–26)
Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. 2Ch 33:12Ki 21:19-24Jas 4:13-15Luk 12:19-20 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. 2Ch 33:1-102Ch 34:3-42Ki 21:1-112Ki 21:20Ezk 20:18Isa 44:13-20
Amon served and sacrificed to all the idols that his father Manasseh had made, but he did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had done; instead, Amon increased his guilt. 2Ch 33:122Ch 33:192Ch 28:222Ch 33:12Ti 3:13Jer 7:26Jer 8:12
Then the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed him in his palace. 2Ch 24:25-262Ch 25:27-282Ki 21:23-262Sa 4:5-12Psa 55:23Rom 11:22 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place. 2Ch 26:12Ch 34:12Ch 36:1Gen 9:5-6Num 35:31Num 35:33