He built pagan altars in the Temple of the Lord, the place where the Lord had said, “My name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”
Parallel translations
- WEB He built altars in Yahweh’s house, of which Yahweh said, “My name shall be in Jerusalem forever.”
- KJV Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.
- BSB Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”
- NKJV He also built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall My name be forever.”
- NASB He built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord had said, “My name shall be in Jerusalem forever.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He builds pagan altars within the Lord's own temple, the place God had claimed for His name forever. This was a brazen desecration of God's holy dwelling.
Overview
Placing idolatrous altars in the temple defiled the very house God had set apart (cf. 2 Chronicles 7:16). It was an affront to the Lord's exclusive claim on Jerusalem and His worship. Such profanation of the sacred space marks the depth of Manasseh's rebellion against the covenant God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 2 Chr 7:16For now I have chosen and made this house holy, that my name may be there forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually.
- 2 Chr 6:6but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
- 1 Kgs 8:29that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place.
- Deut 12:11then it shall happen that to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Yahweh.
- Jer 7:30“For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight,” says Yahweh. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
- 2 Chr 34:3–4For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images.
- 2 Chr 33:15He took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of Yahweh’s house, and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of Yahweh’s house, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.
- 2 Chr 32:19They spoke of the God of Jerusalem as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands.
- 2 Kgs 21:4–5He built altars in Yahweh’s house, of which Yahweh said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.”
- 1 Kgs 9:3Yahweh said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.
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Christ at the center
Temple, priesthood, and the repeated need for a faithful king who seeks the LORD all point past every imperfect reign to the King and Temple who finally and fully dwell with God's people.
How 2 Chronicles 33:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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