Manasseh’s Repentance and Restoration

(2 Kings 21:10–18)

10 And the LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not listen. 11 So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. 12 And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. 13 And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

14 After this, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David from west of Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and he brought it around the hill of Ophel and heightened it considerably. He also stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

15 He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, along with all the altars he had built on the temple mount [fn] and in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city. 16 Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and he told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

18 As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, along with his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, they are indeed written in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.[fn] 19 His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers.[fn] 20 And Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried at his palace. And his son Amon reigned in his place.