Chapter-A-Day Audio Bible - 2 Chronicles 33

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2:03walking around with the testimony. It'll end great if he pulls the trigger. For me, it will end great. That day, Jim, experienced the power of prayer and witnessed just how mighty the name of Jesus is. If you want to hear this full story, tune in at Samaritan's Purse.org slash listen. You're listening to the chapter a day, audio Bible. I'm John Stongy and today we're in 2 Chronicles chapter 33. And we'll be reading from the new English translation. Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king and he reigned for 55 years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out ahead of the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places that his father has a kaya head destroyed. He set up altars for the bales and made a shira pulls. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshipped them. He built altars in the Lord's temple,

3:04about which the Lord had said, Jerusalem will be my permanent home. In the two courtyards of the Lord's temple, he built altars for all the stars in the sky. He passed his sons through the fire in the valley of Benhinum and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits and appointed magicians to supervise it. He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord and angered him. 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. I will not make Israel again leave the land I gave to their ancestors, provided that they carefully obey all I have commanded them, the whole law, the rules and regulations given to Moses.

4:07But Manasseh misled the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites. The Lord confronted Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. So the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They seized Manasseh, put hooks in his nose, bound him with bronze chains and carried him away to Babylon. In his pain, Manasseh asked the Lord his God for mercy and truly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. When he prayed to the Lord, the Lord responded to him and answered favorably his cry for mercy. The Lord brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh realized that the Lord is the true God. After this, Manasseh built up the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of the Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the fishgate and all around the terrace.

5:12He made it much higher. He placed army officers in all the fortified cities in Judah. He removed the foreign gods and images from the Lord's temple and all the alters he had built on the hill of the Lord's temple and in Jerusalem, he threw them outside the city. He erected the altar of the Lord and offered on it peace offerings and thank offerings. He told the people of Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. The people continued to offer sacrifices at the high places, but only to the Lord their God. The rest of the events of Manasseh's reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the prophets spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, are recorded in the annals of the kings of Israel. The annals of the prophets include his prayer, given account of how the Lord responded to it, record all his sins and unfaithful acts, and identify the sites where he built high places and erected ashera poles and idols before he humbled himself.

6:17Manasseh passed away and was buried in his palace. His son Ammon replaced him as king. Ammon was 22 years old when he became king and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord just like his father Manasseh had done. He offered sacrifices to all the idols his father Manasseh had made and worshiped them. He did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. Ammon was guilty of great sin. His servants conspired against him and killed him in his palace. The people of the land executed all who had conspired against King Ammon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place. Let's pray. Lord, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the privilege of being able to look at it today. And Lord, in this passage of Scripture, we see that You chose to allow Manasseh to experience

7:18some very difficult trials, but those trials ultimately served to His benefit. He was so proud and he was so arrogant as He worshipped false gods as He worshipped idols that He had crafted from physical material. But then in the midst of His pain and in the midst of His anguish, He came before You and asked You for mercy. He was humbled and He recognized His need for You. Lord, the same is true for us today. Left to ourselves we would act with pride and arrogance and convince ourselves that we can be self-sufficient. But by Your grace, Lord, You show us our need for You. You open our eyes and You open our hearts and help us to recognize our need for salvation that's only possible through faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ, who paid for our sin. But Lord, in humility, we need to come before You as You prompt our hearts to do so. We need to recognize that we're sinners in need of Your gift of salvation. And we thank You that by the power of Your Holy Spirit You open our eyes and soften our hearts so

8:21that that's something we come to understand. Lord, again, naturally speaking, we would never come to that understanding, but we thank You that You reveal these things to us and that You draw us unto Yourself. We pray, Lord, that our faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ, would be strong, and that it would grow stronger day by day, and that we would learn to rely on Your power, Your wisdom, and Your guidance. We thank You, Lord, for all these things and we thank You for Your presence with us. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.