2 Chronicles 33:5 kjv
And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
2 Chronicles 33:5 nkjv
And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
2 Chronicles 33:5 niv
In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts.
2 Chronicles 33:5 esv
And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
2 Chronicles 33:5 nlt
He built these altars for all the powers of the heavens in both courtyards of the LORD's Temple.
2 Chronicles 33 5 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Kgs 21:3-5 | "He rebuilt the high places... made an Asherah... altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts..." | Parallel account of Manasseh's sin |
| Deut 4:19 | "And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven... and worship them, which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven." | Direct prohibition of astral worship |
| Deut 17:3 | "and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven..." | Severe consequences for worshipping stars |
| Jer 8:2 | "and they shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and served..." | Judgment for following celestial deities |
| Zeph 1:5 | "those who bow down on the roofs to the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and swear by Malcham..." | Condemnation of syncretic astral worship |
| Acts 7:42 | "Then God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets..." | Israel's history of idolatry by Stephen |
| Rom 1:25 | "because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator..." | Pagan worship as ultimate rejection of God |
| 2 Chr 33:7 | "And he set the carved image of the idol that he had made in the house of God..." | Manasseh's further defilement of Temple |
| 2 Kgs 23:12 | "And the altars that Manasseh had built in the two courts of the house of the Lord, Josiah broke down..." | Josiah's reform reversing Manasseh's evil |
| Jer 7:30 | "For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight... they have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it." | Temple defilement general indictment |
| Ezek 8:16 | "at the entrance of the temple of the Lord... twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord... worshiping the sun toward the east." | Sun worship in the Temple's inner court |
| Mt 21:12-13 | "And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought... overturning the tables... 'My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.'" | Temple desecration and need for holiness |
| 1 Cor 3:16-17 | "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him..." | Believers as God's temple; warns against defiling it |
| Exod 20:3-5 | "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image... You shall not bow down to them or serve them..." | The first two commandments: exclusivity |
| Ps 106:35-39 | "They mingled with the nations and learned their works... They served their idols... they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons;" | Idolatry leading to grave sin |
| Isa 2:8 | "Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made." | Pervasive idolatry as national sin |
| Rom 1:18 | "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." | God's just judgment on ungodliness |
| Gal 5:19-21 | "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality... idolatry, sorcery..." | Idolatry classified as a grave sin |
| Rev 21:8 | "But as for the cowardly, the faithless... idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur..." | Eternal condemnation for idolaters |
| Jer 15:4 | "And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem." | Manasseh's sin directly causing judgment |
| Lev 18:21 | "You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech..." | Often connected to host of heaven worship |
| 2 Chr 29:3 | "In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them." | Hezekiah's reforms, which Manasseh reversed |
2 Chronicles 33 verses
2 Chronicles 33 5 Meaning
2 Chronicles 33:5 portrays the profound spiritual rebellion of King Manasseh, highlighting his active desecration of the holy space dedicated to the Lord. He constructed altars for the worship of celestial deities, known as the "host of heaven," a practice explicitly forbidden by the covenant God had established with Israel. The magnitude of his sin is magnified by the location of these altars: they were erected within both the inner and outer courts of the Jerusalem Temple. This act was a direct affront to God's holiness and presence, transforming the house of the Lord from a place of exclusive worship of Yahweh into a hub for syncretic, idolatrous abominations.
2 Chronicles 33 5 Context
Chapter 33 of 2 Chronicles details the reign of King Manasseh of Judah, one of the most wicked kings in the nation's history. His rule, lasting 55 years, directly succeeded the righteous reign and reforms of his father, Hezekiah. Manasseh deliberately dismantled Hezekiah's work of purification and led the kingdom into widespread apostasy, involving Baal worship, Asherah poles, child sacrifice, divination, and sorcery. Verse 5 is a specific condemnation of his egregious act of building pagan altars within the sacred confines of the Lord's Temple. This act was not merely the tolerance of foreign gods, but a blatant syncretism that elevated idolatry to a central, official practice. The chronicler emphasizes that Manasseh’s deep-seated wickedness and defilement of the Temple contributed significantly to God's decision to bring judgment upon Judah, ultimately leading to the Babylonian exile. Historically, Judah was under the strong influence of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, whose cultic practices included extensive astral worship, a factor likely contributing to Manasseh's embracing of these abominations.
2 Chronicles 33 5 Word analysis
- He: Refers to King Manasseh, the subject established in 2 Chronicles 33:1. His personal agency and deliberate choice in committing these transgressions are underscored.
- built: The Hebrew verb bana (בָּנָה) signifies a deliberate and systematic construction. This was not an inherited custom, but an active initiative by Manasseh to establish new structures for pagan worship.
- altars: Hebrew mizbechot (מִזְבְּחוֹת), the plural of mizbeach. These were elevated structures designed for sacrificial offerings, highlighting the cultic nature of the forbidden practices Manasseh introduced.
- for all the host of heaven: The Hebrew lechol-tzva ha-shamayim (לְכֹל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם). This phrase denotes the sun, moon, stars, and planetary bodies, which were deified and worshipped extensively in Mesopotamian and Canaanite religions during this period. It refers to astral deities, whose worship was a clear and repeated violation of the first two commandments and explicitly forbidden in Mosaic Law (Deut 4:19; 17:3).
- in the two courts: This refers to both the inner court (where the priests served) and the outer court (accessible to the general Israelite population) of the Temple in Jerusalem. Placing altars in both courts signifies the thorough and public nature of the Temple's desecration, making Manasseh's apostasy pervasive throughout the very heart of the holy site.
- of the house of the Lord: Hebrew beit YHWH (בֵּית יְהוָה). This is the consecrated Temple, constructed by Solomon and dedicated to the worship of Yahweh, the one true God. The presence of pagan altars in this sacred space was the ultimate blasphemy, directly violating the exclusivity and holiness of God’s dwelling among His people.
2 Chronicles 33 5 Bonus section
Manasseh's sin of establishing these altars in the Temple courts represents more than just individual wrongdoing; it indicates a systemic attempt to integrate pagan theology directly into Yahweh worship, a syncretism that essentially abolished the distinction between the true God and false gods. This act was not an isolated incident but part of a larger pattern of reversing Hezekiah’s reforms, symbolically tearing down everything righteous his father had built. While Manasseh's personal repentance (recorded later in 2 Chr 33:10-17) is a powerful testimony to God's mercy, the national consequences of his pervasive idolatry, particularly the desecration detailed in this verse, were irreversible and directly cited by prophets like Jeremiah as a primary cause for the subsequent Babylonian exile. This verse underscores the severe implications of leadership that leads a nation away from God by compromising divine commands and defiling sacred spaces.
2 Chronicles 33 5 Commentary
2 Chronicles 33:5 encapsulates Manasseh's radical reversal of spiritual allegiance, marking a pivotal moment in Judah's downward spiral towards judgment. By establishing altars to the "host of heaven," primarily Assyrian astral deities, he repudiated the monotheistic worship of Yahweh that defined Israel's covenant. The chilling detail that these pagan altars were built within both courts of the Lord's own Temple highlights the supreme audacity and profound public sacrilege of his actions. This was not a private deviation, but a state-sponsored institutionalization of idolatry directly assaulting God's exclusive claim on Judah's worship and contaminating the very symbol of His presence. This verse signifies the deliberate and aggressive reintroduction of the very abominations God had forbidden, showcasing Manasseh's extreme defiance and cementing his role in sealing Judah's fate towards exile.