2 Kings 21:4

He directed his workers to build altars for worshiping foreign gods in the temple of Yahweh, about which Yahweh had said, “It is here in Jerusalem where I want people to worship [MTY] me, forever.”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.

In Context

3He commanded his workers to rebuild the shrines for worshiping Yahweh that his father Hezekiah had destroyed because they were not in the place that Yahweh had said they should worship him. He directed his workers to build altars for worshiping Baal. He made a statue of the goddess Asherah, like Ahab the king of Israel had done previously. And Manasseh worshiped [DOU] the stars.

5He directed that altars for worshiping the stars be built in both of the courtyards outside the temple.

Read all of 2 Kings 21

Cross References

Exodus 20:24Make for me an altar from dirt. Sacrifice on it the animals that you will burn completely. Also sacrifice on it the animals that you will not burn completely, to maintain fellowship with me. Worship me [MTY] in any place that I choose for you to honor/worship me; and if you do that, I will come to you and bless you.

2 Samuel 7:13He is the one who will arrange for a temple to be built for me [MTY], and I will cause his descendants to be kings [MTY] of Israel forever.

1 Kings 9:3Yahweh said to him, “I heard what you prayed and what you pleaded for me to do. I have set apart/dedicated this temple which your workers have built to be the place where people will worship me forever. I will always watch over it and protect it.

2 Kings 16:11So Uriah built an altar in Jerusalem, following the drawing that King Ahaz had sent. Uriah finished the altar before Ahaz returned to Jerusalem from Damascus.

2 Kings 23:12Josiah also commanded his servants to tear down the altars that the previous kings of Judah had built on the roof of the palace, above the room where King Ahaz had stayed. They also tore down the altars that had been built by King Manasseh in the two courtyards outside the temple. He commanded that they be smashed to pieces and thrown down into the Kidron Valley.

2 Chronicles 6:5‘From the time that I brought my people out of Egypt, I have never chosen a city in Israel in which a temple should be built for people to worship me there. Nor did I choose anyone to be the leader of my Israeli people.

Matthew Henry on 2 Kings 21:2-10

Manasseh's Impious Reign. ( b. c. 698.) 1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzibah. 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord , after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. 3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 2 Kings 21:4