2 Chronicles 33

KJV · Chapter 33/36

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:

²But 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.

³For 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.

⁴Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.

⁵And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.

⁶And 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.

⁷And 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:

⁸Neither 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.

⁹So 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.

¹⁰And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.

¹¹Wherefore 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.

¹²And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,

¹³And 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.

¹⁴Now 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.

¹⁵And 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.

¹⁶And 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.

¹⁷Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the Lord their God only.

¹⁸Now 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.

¹⁹His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sin, 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.

²⁰So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house: and Amon his son reigned in his stead.

²¹Amon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned two years in Jerusalem.

²²But 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;

²³And humbled not himself before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but Amon trespassed more and more.

²⁴And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.

²⁵But 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.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, becomes one of the most idolatrous kings in Judah's history, practicing sorcery and even sacrificing his own children. He is taken prisoner by the Assyrians, and in this extreme humiliation he repents deeply, being restored to the throne and going on to remove the idolatry he had established.

Explanation

Manasseh's journey is one of the most surprising stories of redemption in the whole Bible: after reigning for decades practicing nearly every possible form of idolatry and spiritual violence, including defiling the temple itself with idols, he is humiliated to the extreme, being led away in chains into exile in Babylon. It is exactly at this lowest point that he finally humbles himself genuinely before God, and remarkably, God responds with mercy, restoring him to the throne. His subsequent reform, removing the very idols he had installed, shows that even the most extreme sinner can find a way back through sincere repentance — a powerful message of hope even after decades of terribly destructive choices.

Fun facts

The apocryphal book titled 'The Prayer of Manasseh,' not included in the Protestant biblical canon but present in some Christian traditions, is a later text that imaginatively attempts to reconstruct the words of repentance Manasseh would have prayed during his captivity.
Despite his sincere repentance and later reforms, the prophet Jeremiah, generations later, still attributes Jerusalem's final destruction, in part, to the accumulated weight of the specific sins committed during Manasseh's long reign (2 Kings 23:26-27), showing how certain spiritual consequences can persist even after genuine repentance.

Verse-by-verse explanation

2 Chronicles 33:1Manasseh was only twelve years old when he began to reign, and he ruled fifty-five years in Jerusalem — the longest reign of any king of Judah.
2 Chronicles 33:2The Chronicler’s verdict is harsh: Manasseh did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, repeating the detestable practices of the nations God had driven out of the land.
2 Chronicles 33:3Manasseh rebuilds the high places his father Hezekiah had torn down, raises altars to Baal, makes sacred poles, and even goes so far as to worship the whole host of heaven — sun, moon, and stars.
2 Chronicles 33:4He builds idolatrous altars inside the temple itself, in the very place God had chosen to put His name forever.
2 Chronicles 33:5Manasseh builds altars for the worship of the host of heaven in both courtyards of the temple, completely reversing his father’s religious reform.
2 Chronicles 33:6Manasseh even repeats the sacrifice of children by fire, on top of practicing divination and sorcery — a list of sins that marks him, at first glance, as the worst king in the whole book.
2 Chronicles 33:7Manasseh sets up a carved image, an idol he made himself, inside the temple — the very place God had promised David and Solomon would bear His name forever.
2 Chronicles 33:8That promise came with a condition: Israel would remain in the land as long as it faithfully obeyed everything God commanded through the law of Moses.
2 Chronicles 33:9Manasseh drags Judah and Jerusalem down to a level of wrongdoing even worse than that of the nations God had already destroyed ahead of them.
2 Chronicles 33:10The Lord speaks directly to Manasseh and the people, but they simply pay no attention to the warning.
2 Chronicles 33:11Because of this, God brings against them the commanders of the Assyrian army, who capture Manasseh hiding among the thornbushes, bind him with chains, and carry him off as a prisoner to Babylon.
2 Chronicles 33:12In the distress of prison, Manasseh finally prays sincerely to the Lord and deeply humbles himself before the God of his ancestors.
2 Chronicles 33:13What Chronicles tells — and the book of Kings doesn’t mention — is that Manasseh, taken prisoner to Babylon, truly repents in prison, and God restores him to his own throne. It’s one of the few cases in the entire book where even the most wicked king gets a recorded second chance.
2 Chronicles 33:14After being restored, Manasseh builds an outer wall for the City of David, strengthens the Ophel area, and places military commanders in the fortified cities of Judah.
2 Chronicles 33:15Manasseh removes the foreign gods and the idol he had set up from the temple, along with all the idolatrous altars raised in Jerusalem, throwing everything out of the city.
2 Chronicles 33:16He repairs the altar of the Lord, resumes offering peace offerings and offerings of praise, and orders all Judah to serve the God of Israel.
2 Chronicles 33:17Even so, the people keep sacrificing at the high places, though now they direct those offerings only to the true God, no longer to idols.
2 Chronicles 33:18The rest of Manasseh’s story, his prayer, and the words of the prophets who spoke to him are recorded in the annals of the kings of Israel.
2 Chronicles 33:19Even more specific details about his prayer, his sin, and the places where he had built high places before repenting appear in the books of the seers.
2 Chronicles 33:20Manasseh dies and is buried in his own house; his son Amon takes the throne, quickly reversing his father’s repentance.
2 Chronicles 33:21Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he ruled only two years in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 33:22Amon quickly reverses his father’s late repentance, goes back to worshiping the same idols, and reigns only two years before being assassinated by his own servants — as if Manasseh’s reform had left no root at all in his son.
2 Chronicles 33:23Unlike his father, Amon never humbles himself before the Lord — on the contrary, he multiplies his own sins even further.
2 Chronicles 33:24Amon’s own servants conspire against him and kill him inside his own house.
2 Chronicles 33:25The people of the land respond by killing all the conspirators and placing Josiah, Amon’s son, on the throne in his place.

Chapters

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