2 Chronicles Chapter 33

Manasseh Rules Judah

¹ Manasseh was 12 and ruled for 55 years in Jerusalem. ² He did evil like the nations Yahveh drove out. ³ He rebuilt the high places Hezekiah had torn down, erected altars for the images of Baal, set up Asherah poles, and worshiped and served the stars in the sky. ⁴ He built altars in Yahveh’s Temple where Yahveh had said, “I will identify with Jerusalem permanently.” ⁵ He built altars for the host of heaven in the two courts of Yahveh’s Temple. ⁶ He burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of (Ben)Hinnom. He angered Yahveh with lots of sins he did: witchcraft, fortunetelling, sorcery, consulting mediums and spiritists. ⁷ Then he put in God’s Temple the carved image of the idol he’d made about which God had told David and Solomon his son,

“I’ve chosen to identify myself permanently with this Temple and with Jerusalem out of all the tribes in Israel. ⁸ I won’t again remove Israel from the land I’ve appointed for their ancestors, if only they’ll observe everything I’ve commanded them in the Law, statutes, and ordinances I gave through Moses.”

 ⁹ Manasseh misled Judah and Jerusalem to sin more than the nations Yahveh originally destroyed in front of the Israelites.        2 Ch 33:1-9

¹⁰ Yahveh spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they didn’t pay any attention. ¹¹ So he brought the commanders of Assyria’s army against them. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains, and took him to Babylon. ¹² When he was in distress, he appealed to Yahveh and humbled himself greatly in the presence of his ancestors’ God. ¹³ When he prayed to him, God was moved by his appeal, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew Yahveh was God.

¹⁴ After that, he built an outer wall for The City of David on the west side of the Gihon in the valley, as far as the entrance to the Fish Gate. It encircled Ophel and it was very tall. Then he put army commanders in the fortified towns of Judah. ¹⁵ He removed the foreign gods and the idol from Yahveh’s Temple as well as the altars he’d built earlier on the mountain of Yahveh and in Jerusalem, and dumped them outside the city. ¹⁶ He set up Yahveh’s altar and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it. He ordered Judah to serve Yahveh God of Israel. ¹⁷ The people still sacrificed in the high places, but only to Yahveh.                                                          2 Ch 33:10-17

¹⁸ The rest of the acts of Manasseh, including his prayer to God and the words of the seers that spoke to him in Yahveh’s name, are in The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁹ Also recorded in The Chronicles of the Seers are his sin and unfaithfulness, the sites where he built high places, set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself and appealed to God. ²⁰ Manasseh died, and they buried him in his own house. His son Amon became king.

Amon Rules Judah

²¹ Amon was 22 and ruled for 2 years in Jerusalem. ²² He did evil like Manasseh had done. He sacrificed to the carved images his father had made and served them. ²³ He didn’t humble himself like his father did, but multiplied his guilt. ²⁴ Finally, his own officials murdered him in his own house, ²⁵ but the people killed them and made his son Josiah king.                                2 Ch 33:18-25