2 Kings 21:12-16

21:12 So this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah. The news will reverberate in the ears of those who hear about it.¹ 21:13 I will destroy Jerusalem the same way I did Samaria² and the dynasty of Ahab.³ I will wipe Jerusalem clean, just as one wipes a plate on both sides.⁴ 21:14 I will abandon this last remaining tribe among my people⁵ and hand them over to their enemies; they will be plundered and robbed by all their enemies,⁶ 21:15 because they have done evil in my sight⁷ and have angered me from the time their ancestors left Egypt right up to this very day!’”

21:16 Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end,⁸ in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the Lord.⁹

¹tn Heb “so that everyone who hears it, his two ears will quiver.”

²map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.

³tn Heb “I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab.” The measuring line and plumb line are normally used in building a structure, not tearing it down. But here they are used ironically as metaphors of judgment, emphasizing that he will give careful attention to the task of judgment.

⁴tn Heb “just as one wipes a plate, wiping and turning [it] on its face.” The word picture emphasizes how thoroughly the Lord will judge the city.

⁵tn Heb “the remnant of my inheritance.” In this context the Lord’s remnant is the tribe of Judah, which had been preserved when the Assyrians conquered and deported the northern tribes. See 17:18 and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 269.

⁶tn Heb “they will become plunder and spoils of war for all their enemies.”

⁷tn Heb “in my eyes.”

⁸tn Heb “and also Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem from mouth to mouth.”

⁹tn Heb “apart from his sin which he caused Judah to commit, by doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord.”