In addition to his sin that he led Judah to commit in front of the Lord, Manasseh also killed a lot of innocent people from one end of Jerusalem to the other.
We are slaves, but our God hasn’t abandoned us in our slavery. Instead, he has made the kings of Persia treat us kindly. He did this to give us an opportunity to rebuild our God’s temple and restore its ruins and to give us a protective wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
Have you completely rejected Judah? Do you despise Zion? Why have you struck us so hard that we cannot heal? We hope for peace, but no good comes from it. We hope for a time of healing, but there’s only terror.
Why should you be like someone taken by surprise, like a strong man who cannot help? You, O Lord, are among us. We are called by your name. Don’t leave us!
First, I will have them pay twice as much for their wickedness and their sin, because they have polluted my land. They have filled my property with the lifeless statues of their detestable and disgusting idols.”
“The people, their ancestors, and the kings of Judah have abandoned me. They have made this place unrecognizable by burning incense as an offering to other gods that they hadn’t heard of. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people.
This is what the Lord of Armies says about the prophets: I will give them wormwood to eat and poison to drink. The prophets of Jerusalem have spread godlessness throughout the land.
This is what the Lord says: Only if the heavens could be measured or the foundations of the earth could be searched, would I ever reject all of Israel’s descendants because of everything that they have done, declares the Lord.
Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,” declares the Lord. “I am with you. I will completely destroy all the nations where I scattered you, but I will not completely destroy you. I will correct you with justice. I won’t let you go entirely unpunished.”
In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, “people will look for Israel’s crimes, but they will find none. They will look for Judah’s sins, but none will be found. I will forgive the faithful few whom I have spared.
He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this? Isn’t it bad enough that the people of Judah have done these disgusting things that you have seen here? Yet, they also fill the land with violence and continue to provoke me even more. Look how they insult me in the worst possible way.
He answered me, “The wickedness of the nations of Israel and Judah is terrible. The land is filled with murder, and the city is filled with wrongdoing. They think that the Lord has abandoned the land and that he doesn’t see.
“Yet, the Israelites will become as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore. No one will be able to measure them or count them. Wherever they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be told, ‘You are the children of the living God.’
If she refuses, I will strip her. I will leave her as naked as the day she was born. I will turn her into a dry and barren land, and she will die of thirst.
Listen to the Lord’s word, you Israelites. The Lord has brought these charges against those who live in the land: “There is no faith, no love, and no knowledge of God in the land.
Who is a God like you? You forgive sin and overlook the rebellion of your faithful people. You will not be angry forever, because you would rather show mercy.
“On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a fire on a pile of wood and like a burning torch among freshly cut straw. They will burn up all the surrounding nations to the right and to the left. But the people of Jerusalem will remain safe in Jerusalem.
On that day the Lord will defend those who live in Jerusalem so that even those who stumble will be like David, and David’s family will be like God, like the Messenger of the Lord ahead of them.