2 Chronicles 33

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he ruled fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

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

NoteFifty-five years is the longest reign recorded for any king of Judah. Since he was twelve at his accession, many historians think his first years overlapped with his father Hezekiah's, a common arrangement in which a son ruled alongside the aging king.

2He did what was evil in the LORD's sight. He copied the disgusting practices of the nations that the LORD had driven out ahead of the people of Israel.

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.

Note"The nations that the LORD had driven out" means the Canaanite peoples who lived in the land before Israel. "Did what was evil in the LORD's sight" is the fixed formula this book uses to grade each king; a good king "did what was right in the LORD's sight."

3He rebuilt the local worship sites that his father Hezekiah had torn down. He set up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the sun, moon, and stars, and served them.

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.

NoteA "local worship site" (the older phrase is "high place") was an open-air shrine, often on a hilltop or raised platform, with an altar and standing stones. "The Baals" are the many local forms of Baal, the Canaanite storm and fertility god. An Asherah pole was a wooden pole or stylized tree that stood for the goddess Asherah. "All the sun, moon, and stars" translates "the host of heaven", the sky's bodies treated as divine powers, a form of worship associated with Assyria.

4He even built altars inside the LORD's temple, the place about which the LORD had said, "My name will be in Jerusalem forever."

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

NoteIn Hebrew usage, putting one's name on a place was a way of claiming it and being present there. God's "name" in Jerusalem means his presence and ownership attached to that one sanctuary.

5In both courtyards of the LORD's temple he built altars to all the sun, moon, and stars.

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

NoteThe temple had two enclosed courtyards: an inner one where the priests worked around the main altar, and a larger outer one where the people gathered.

6He put his own children through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. He read omens, used magic spells, and practiced witchcraft. He consulted mediums and people who talk with spirits. He did great evil in the LORD's sight and made him angry.

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.

Note"Put his children through the fire" renders a Hebrew phrase used for child sacrifice; some readers understand it as a dedication rite in which children passed through flames rather than being killed, and the text does not settle which. The Valley of the Son of Hinnom was the ravine running along the south and west of Jerusalem; its name later became "Gehenna." Reading omens, casting spells, and consulting mediums were all methods of getting hidden knowledge from the spirit world, and Israelite law forbade every one of them.

7He took the carved image he had made and set it up in God's house, the house about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon: "In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.

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:

NoteThe parallel account in 2 Kings 21:7 identifies this carved image as an image of Asherah; Chronicles calls it simply "the idol."

8And I will never again make Israel leave the land I gave to your ancestors, if only they are careful to do everything I commanded them through Moses: the whole law, the rules, and the regulations."

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.

Note"The whole law, the rules, and the regulations" translates three overlapping Hebrew terms for the instruction given through Moses. Piling them up signals completeness, everything commanded, rather than three separate law codes.

9So Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem off the right path, so that they did worse evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed ahead of the people of Israel.

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.

10The LORD spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they would not listen.

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

11So the LORD brought the army commanders of the king of Assyria against them. They captured Manasseh with hooks, tied him up with bronze chains, and took him away to Babylon.

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.

NoteAssyria was the dominant empire of the region in this period. Babylon was a great city under Assyrian control, where the Assyrian king sometimes held court, which is why a prisoner from Judah would be taken there rather than to the Assyrian capital. "With hooks" translates an ambiguous Hebrew word that can also mean "among the thorns" or "with a hook"; Assyrian carvings show captives led by a ring or hook through the nose or lip.

12When he was in this trouble, he begged the LORD his God for help and humbled himself deeply before the God of his ancestors.

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

13He prayed to him, and God listened to his plea and heard his request. God brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

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.

14After this he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, running from west of the Gihon spring in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate. He carried it around the hill called Ophel and made it much higher. He also stationed army commanders in all the walled cities of Judah.

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.

NoteThe City of David was the oldest, southernmost part of Jerusalem. The Gihon was the spring in the valley on the city's east side, its main water supply. The Fish Gate was on the north side, named for the fish market held there. Ophel was the ridge linking the old city to the temple hill.

15He got rid of the foreign gods and the idol in the LORD's temple, along with all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city.

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.

16He repaired the LORD's altar and offered peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and he ordered Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.

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.

NoteA peace offering was a sacrifice partly burned on the altar and partly eaten as a shared meal by the worshiper and his household. A thank offering was one kind of peace offering, made to acknowledge help already received.

17Even so, the people kept sacrificing at the local worship sites, though now only to the LORD their God.

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

NoteThe objection is not to the sacrifices but to the location: the law required that offerings be brought to the single sanctuary in Jerusalem, so worship of the LORD at scattered local shrines still counted as a failure of the reform.

18The rest of what Manasseh did, his prayer to his God, and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, are written in the record of the kings of Israel.

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.

NoteA seer was a prophet, literally "one who sees," an older term for someone who received messages from God. "The record of the kings of Israel" is a court chronicle the writer cites as his source; it no longer survives and is not the biblical books of Kings. "Israel" here means the people as a whole, including the southern kingdom of Judah.

19His prayer, how God listened to him, all his sin and disloyalty, and the places where he built local worship sites and set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself, are all written in the records of the seers.

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

NoteAnother source that has not survived. The Hebrew here literally reads "the words of Hozai," which may be a personal name or a variant spelling of the word for "seers"; translations differ.

20Then Manasseh died and joined his ancestors, and they buried him at his own palace. His son Amon became king in his place.

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

Note"Died and joined his ancestors" translates "slept with his fathers," the standard phrase for a king's death from natural causes. Being buried "at his own palace" means in the palace grounds rather than in the royal tombs used by earlier kings of David's line.

21Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he ruled two years in Jerusalem.

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

22He did what was evil in the LORD's sight, just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the carved images his father Manasseh had made, and he served them.

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;

23But he did not humble himself before the LORD the way his father Manasseh had humbled himself. Instead, Amon piled up more and more guilt.

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

24His own officials plotted against him and killed him in his palace.

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

25But the people of the land killed everyone who had plotted against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

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.

Note"The people of the land" is not a vague crowd but a recognized body in Judah, the landholding free citizens, who on several occasions stepped in to punish a king's assassins and secure the succession of David's line.