# 2 Chronicles 33 📖: Manasseh's Sin and Repentance [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-2 Chronicles Overview]] | [[2 Chronicles 32]] | [[2 Chronicles 34]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Manasseh’s Reign [[#Verse 01.]] Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem.  [[#Verse 02.]] He did evil in the sight of the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out ahead of the Israelites.  [[#Verse 03.]] He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshiped them.  [[#Verse 04.]] He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my permanent home.” [[#Verse 05.]] In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky.  [[#Verse 06.]] He passed his sons through the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it. He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him.  [[#Verse 07.]] He put an idolatrous image he had made in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home.  [[#Verse 08.]] I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors, provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given through Moses.” [[#Verse 09.]] But Manasseh misled the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites. [[#Verse 10.]] The Lord confronted Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention.  [[#Verse 11.]] So the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They seized Manasseh, put hooks in his nose, bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon.  [[#Verse 12.]] In his pain Manasseh asked the Lord his God for mercy and truly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors.  [[#Verse 13.]] When he prayed to the Lord, the Lord responded to him and answered favorably his cry for mercy. The Lord brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh realized that the Lord is the true God. [[#Verse 14.]] After this Manasseh built up the outer wall of the City of David on the west side of the Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate and all around the terrace; he made it much higher. He placed army officers in all the fortified cities in Judah. [[#Verse 15.]] He removed the foreign gods and images from the Lord’s temple and all the altars he had built on the hill of the Lord’s temple and in Jerusalem; he threw them outside the city. [[#Verse 16.]] He erected the altar of the Lord and offered on it peace offerings and thank offerings. He told the people of Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.  [[#Verse 17.]] However, the people continued to offer sacrifices at the high places, but only to the Lord their God. [[#Verse 18.]] The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the prophets spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.  [[#Verse 19.]] The Annals of the Prophets include his prayer, give an account of how the Lord responded to it, record all his sins and unfaithful acts, and identify the sites where he built high places and erected Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself.  [[#Verse 20.]] Manasseh passed away and was buried in his palace. His son Amon replaced him as king. ### Amon’s Reign [[#Verse 21.]] Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem.  [[#Verse 22.]] He did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon offered sacrifices to all the idols his father Manasseh had made, and worshiped them.  [[#Verse 23.]] He did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. Amon was guilty of great sin.  [[#Verse 24.]] His servants conspired against him and killed him in his palace.  [[#Verse 25.]] The people of the land executed all who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Manasseh reigned 55 years (33:1), the longest reign of any king of Judah. 2. Manasseh's captivity and repentance are recorded only in Chronicles (2 Kings 21 does not mention them). 3. Assyrian records of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal list Manasseh king of Judah among the kings who served them. 4. The Assyrians took Manasseh to Babylon (33:11), which was under Assyrian control at that time. 5. The "hooks" (33:11) reflect the Assyrian practice of leading captives by hooks or rings. 6. The Prayer of Manasseh is a later writing found in the Apocrypha. It is not part of the Hebrew Bible. 7. 2 Kings 21:16 adds that Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end. 8. Jewish tradition says the prophet Isaiah was sawn in two under Manasseh, which many connect with Hebrews 11:37. 9. Jeremiah later points to Manasseh's sins as a cause of the exile (Jeremiah 15:4). 10. Manasseh's son Amon reigned only two years before his own servants assassinated him (33:21-24). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). If God heard the prayer of Manasseh, one of Judah's most wicked kings (33:12-13), then no one is beyond the reach of Jesus, who came to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Manasseh led Judah to do even more evil than the nations God had driven out (33:9). How can a leader's choices shape a whole community? 2. In distress Manasseh humbled himself, and God heard him (33:12-13). What does this teach about God's mercy? 3. Manasseh's son Amon did not humble himself as his father had (33:23). Why doesn't one generation's repentance automatically pass to the next? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 6: Manasseh sacrifices his sons and practices divination and sorcery. - 📖 verses 12-13: In distress Manasseh humbles himself, and God hears and restores him. - 📖 verse 16: Manasseh restores the altar of the Lord and tells Judah to serve Him. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[2 Kings 21#Verse 01.|2 Kings 21:1-26]] - The parallel account of Manasseh and Amon. - 🔗 [[Luke 15#Verse 17.|Luke 15:17-24]] - The return of the prodigal son. - 🔗 [[Luke 19#Verse 10.|Luke 19:10]] - The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. - 🔗 [[1 Timothy 01#Verse 15.|1 Timothy 1:15]] - Christ Jesus came to save sinners. - 🔗 [[1 John 01#Verse 09.|1 John 1:9]] - If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[2 Chronicles 33 - SOAP|Never Give Up On People]] ## 📂 Internal Notes