Manasseh's Exile, Prayer and Return

Manasseh reigns fifty-five years and does "like unto the abominations of the heathen." "And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit."

"Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns [or: with hooks], and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God."

He removes the foreign gods and the idol from the temple, repairs the altar and commands Judah to serve the LORD; yet the people still sacrifice on high places. "His prayer… behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers." Amon reigns two years, "trespassed more and more," and is killed by his servants.

Kings and Chronicles

2 Kings 21 has no captivity or repentance and blames Manasseh for Jerusalem's fall. Chronicles turns him into the book's great example of 7:14. Assyrian texts confirm Manasseh as a loyal vassal; none mentions a summons to Babylon, though Assyrian kings then ruled Babylon and did summon vassals. See the 2 Kings passage page.

The Prayer of Manasseh

33:18–19 says Manasseh's prayer was recorded. The short penitential Prayer of Manasseh, later found in Greek and Latin Bibles, was written in his name centuries later; it is not his recovered prayer. Qumran's 4Q381 contains a different "prayer of Manasseh, king of Judah"; the two should not be equated.