History · Chapter 21 of 25

2 Kings 21

Manasseh reigns fifty-five years and becomes Judah's most wicked king, rebuilding the high places, erecting altars to false gods inside the temple, practicing sorcery, and sacrificing his son. He sheds so much innocent blood that God announces judgment on Jerusalem so severe it will make ears tingle. His son Amon follows the same evil path and is assassinated, leaving young Josiah to reign.

What happens in 2 Kings 21

Manasseh becomes king at twelve and reigns fifty-five years, undoing his father Hezekiah's reforms. He rebuilds the high places, erects altars to Baal, worships the host of heaven, and even builds pagan altars inside the temple courts and sets a carved image in the house God had claimed for his name. He passes his son through the fire, practices divination and sorcery, and consults mediums. He seduces Judah into greater evil than the nations God had driven out, and sheds so much innocent blood that it fills Jerusalem.

God speaks through the prophets that he will bring disaster so dreadful that everyone who hears will have tingling ears; he will wipe Jerusalem clean as a dish and hand his people to their enemies, because of their persistent provocation. Manasseh dies and is buried in his garden. His son Amon reigns two years in the same wickedness before his own servants assassinate him, and the people make Josiah king.

2 Kings 21 in context

Manasseh's long reign is remembered as the spiritual nadir of Judah, the point at which the nation's guilt becomes, in Kings, the decisive cause of the coming Babylonian exile. His reversal of Hezekiah's reforms was thorough and aggressive, filling even the temple with idolatry and Jerusalem with bloodshed.

Notably, the parallel account in Chronicles records a later repentance of Manasseh after his own captivity, a mercy Kings does not mention, focusing instead on the enduring consequences of his sin for the nation.

Main themes of 2 Kings 21

2 Kings 21 (KJV)

1Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. 3For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. 5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD. 6And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 7And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: 8Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them. 9But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel. 10And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets, saying, 11Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: 12Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. 13And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. 14And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies; 15Because they have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. 16Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. 17Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 18And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. 19Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 20And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh did. 21And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshipped them: 22And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD. 23And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house. 24And 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. 25Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 26And he was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza: and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.

Verses to carry from 2 Kings 21

“And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.”2 Kings 21:6

“Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols:”2 Kings 21:11

“Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.”2 Kings 21:16

Reflection

Manasseh's reign is a portrait of how far a person can fall, yet the wider Scripture shows even he found mercy when he humbled himself. Whatever guilt you carry, this chapter, read whole, refuses to let you conclude you are beyond redemption.

Is there a sin you believe places you outside grace? Manasseh's story, and his place in Christ's line, says otherwise.

A prayer from 2 Kings 21