33:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 1 33:2 He did evil in the sight of 2 the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations 3 whom the Lord drove out ahead of the Israelites. 33:3 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 4 and worshiped 5 them. 33:4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my permanent home.” 6 33:5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky. 33:6 He passed his sons through the fire 7 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. 8 He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him. 9 33:7 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. 10 33:8 I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors, 11 provided that they carefully obey all I commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given to Moses.” 33:9 But Manasseh misled the people of 12 Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.
33:10 The Lord confronted 13 Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 33:11 So the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They seized Manasseh, put hooks in his nose, 14 bound him with bronze chains, and carried him away to Babylon. 33:12 In his pain 15 Manasseh 16 asked the Lord his God for mercy 17 and truly 18 humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. 19 33:13 When he prayed to the Lord, 20 the Lord 21 responded to him 22 and answered favorably 23 his cry for mercy. The Lord 24 brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh realized that the Lord is the true God.
33:14 After this Manasseh 25 built up the outer wall of the City of David 26 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.
1 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
2 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
3 tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”
4 tn The phrase כָל צְבָא הֲַשָּׁמַיִם (khol tsÿva’ hashamayim), traditionally translated “all the host of heaven,” refers to the heavenly lights, including stars and planets. In 1 Kgs 22:19 these heavenly bodies are pictured as members of the Lord’s royal court or assembly, but many other texts view them as the illegitimate objects of pagan and Israelite worship.
5 tn Or “served.”
6 tn Heb “In Jerusalem my name will be permanently.”
7 tn Or “he sacrificed his sons in the fire.” This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice (NEB, NASV “made his sons pass through the fire”; NIV “sacrificed his sons in the fire”; NRSV “made his sons pass through fire”). For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.
8 tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with a conjurer.” Hebrew אוֹב (’ov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַּעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.
9 tn Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the
10 tn Heb “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I chose from all the tribes of Israel, I will place my name permanently” (or perhaps “forever”).
11 tn Heb “I will not again make the feet of Israel wander from the land which I established for their fathers.”
12 tn Heb “misled Judah.” The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” here by metonymy for the people of Judah.
13 tn Heb “spoke to.”
14 tn Heb “and they seized him with hooks.”
15 tn Or “distress.”
16 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Manasseh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Heb “appeased the face of the
18 tn Or “greatly.”
19 tn Heb “fathers.”
20 tn Heb “him”; the referent (the
21 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
22 tn Heb “was entreated by him,” or “allowed himself to be entreated by him.”
23 tn Heb “heard.”
24 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
25 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Manasseh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.