2 Kings 21:13-26

21:13 I will destroy Jerusalem the same way I did Samaria ¹  and the dynasty of Ahab. ²  I will wipe Jerusalem clean, just as one wipes a plate on both sides. ³  21:14 I will abandon this last remaining tribe among my people ⁴  and hand them over to their enemies; they will be plundered and robbed by all their enemies, ⁵  21:15 because they have done evil in my sight ⁶  and have angered me from the time their ancestors left Egypt right up to this very day!’”

21:16 Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end, ⁷  in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the Lord. ⁸ 

21:17 The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign and all his accomplishments, as well as the sinful acts he committed, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. ⁹  21:18 Manasseh passed away ¹⁰  and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzzah, and his son Amon replaced him as king.

Amon’s Reign over Judah

21:19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. ¹¹  His mother ¹²  was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz, from Jotbah. 21:20 He did evil in the sight of ¹³  the Lord, just like his father Manasseh had done. 21:21 He followed in the footsteps of his father ¹⁴  and worshiped and bowed down to the disgusting idols ¹⁵  which his father had worshiped. ¹⁶  21:22 He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors and did not follow the Lord’s instructions. ¹⁷  21:23 Amon’s servants conspired against him and killed the king in his palace. 21:24 The people of the land executed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they ¹⁸  made his son Josiah king in his place.

21:25 The rest of Amon’s accomplishments are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. ¹⁹  21:26 He was buried ²⁰  in his tomb in the garden of Uzzah, and his son Josiah replaced him as king.

[21:13]  ¹ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[21:13]  ² tn Heb “I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab.” The measuring line and plumb line are normally used in building a structure, not tearing it down. But here they are used ironically as metaphors of judgment, emphasizing that he will give careful attention to the task of judgment.

[21:13]  ³ tn Heb “just as one wipes a plate, wiping and turning [it] on its face.” The word picture emphasizes how thoroughly the Lord will judge the city.

[21:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “the remnant of my inheritance.” In this context the Lord’s remnant is the tribe of Judah, which had been preserved when the Assyrians conquered and deported the northern tribes. See 17:18 and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 269.

[21:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “they will become plunder and spoils of war for all their enemies.”

[21:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “in my eyes.”

[21:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and also Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem from mouth to mouth.”

[21:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “apart from his sin which he caused Judah to commit, by doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

[21:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “As for the rest of the events of Manasseh, and all which he did, and his sin which he committed, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?”

[21:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”

[21:19]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[21:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the name of his mother.”

[21:20]  ²² tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[21:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “walked in all the way which his father walked.”

[21:21]  ²⁶ sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.

[21:21]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he served the disgusting idols which his father served and he bowed down to them.”

[21:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and did not walk in the way of the Lord.”

[21:24]  ³¹ tn Heb “the people of the land.” The pronoun “they” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid the repetition of the phrase “the people of the land” from the beginning of the verse.

[21:25]  ³⁴ tc Heb “As for the rest of the things of Amon which he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah?” Many Hebrew mss have וְכָל (vÿcol), “and all,” before אֲשֶׁר (’asher). In this case we can translate, “As for the rest of the events of Amon’s reign, and all his accomplishments,….”

[21:26]  ³⁷ tn Heb “he buried him.” Here “he” probably refers to Amon’s son Josiah.