Text: 2 Chronicles 33:1-20
OT Text Referred to: 2 Kings 21:1-18
Subject: Manasseh's reign — parallel account with dramatic divergence
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: These parallel accounts present the most dramatically divergent portrayal of any king. In Kings, Manasseh is unredeemed evil — he "shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end" (2 Kgs 21:16), and his sins are cited as the ultimate cause of Judah's exile (2 Kgs 23:26-27). The Chronicler preserves the same catalogue of sins but adds a stunning reversal: the Assyrians captured Manasseh "with hooks" (בַּחֹחִים, bachochim), took him to Babylon, where "in his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly" (2 Chr 33:12). God heard his prayer and restored him. This addition — absent from Kings — makes Manasseh a paradigm of repentance, showing that even the worst sinner can find mercy.