2 Kings 21:6 kjv
And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
2 Kings 21:6 nkjv
Also he made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.
2 Kings 21:6 niv
He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, arousing his anger.
2 Kings 21:6 esv
And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
2 Kings 21:6 nlt
Manasseh also sacrificed his own son in the fire. He practiced sorcery and divination, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. He did much that was evil in the LORD's sight, arousing his anger.
2 Kings 21 6 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Child Sacrifice/Molech: | ||
| Lev 18:21 | "You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech..." | Forbids child sacrifice to Molech. |
| Lev 20:2-5 | "...if anyone of the people of Israel, or of the strangers...gives any of his offspring to Molech..." | Penalty for child sacrifice is death. |
| Deut 18:10 | "There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering..." | Abomination to God. |
| Jer 7:31 | "And they have built the high places of Topheth...to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire..." | Prophetic condemnation of the practice. |
| Pss 106:37-38 | "They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons...shedding innocent blood..." | Identifies child sacrifice as demonic worship. |
| Ezek 16:21 | "you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire." | God's accusation against Jerusalem's acts. |
| Divination/Sorcery/Occult Practices: | ||
| Exod 22:18 | "You shall not permit a sorceress to live." | Strong prohibition against sorcery. |
| Lev 19:26 | "You shall not practice divination or tell fortunes." | Direct command against omens and fortune-telling. |
| Lev 19:31 | "Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out..." | Warns against consulting forbidden sources. |
| Lev 20:6 | "If a person turns to mediums and necromancers...I will set my face against that person..." | God's direct opposition to such practices. |
| Deut 18:9 | "When you come into the land...you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices..." | Command to not imitate Canaanite evil. |
| Deut 18:11-12 | "There shall not be found among you...one who consults a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead...for whoever does these things is an abomination..." | Explicitly labels these practices as an abomination. |
| 1 Sam 15:23 | "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." | Equates rebellion against God with divination. |
| Isa 8:19 | "When they say to you, 'Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,' should not a people inquire of their God?" | Exhorts seeking God instead of forbidden sources. |
| Isa 47:13-14 | "Let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens...those who consult the stars..." | Ridicules reliance on astrologers and soothsayers. |
| Acts 8:9-11 | "But there was a man named Simon...who amazed the people of Samaria, practicing magic." | New Testament example of sorcery. |
| Acts 13:8 | "But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them..." | Opposition from a magician in the NT. |
| Provoking God/Wickedness: | ||
| Deut 9:18 | "...because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger." | Connection between evil deeds and God's wrath. |
| 1 Kgs 14:9 | "but have done evil above all that were before you...provoking me to anger." | Previous kings provoked God with idolatry. |
| 1 Kgs 16:2 | "...you have done evil in the sight of the Lord and have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger..." | Condemnation for provoking God to anger through sin. |
| 2 Kgs 17:17 | "And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger." | Parallel actions by Northern Kingdom leading to exile. |
| Jer 32:30 | "For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth...they have provoked me to anger." | Summary of Judah and Israel's long-standing rebellion. |
| Ezek 8:17 | "...is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations that they commit here...? They have filled the land with violence and have again provoked me to anger." | Abominations leading to provoking God. |
| Neh 9:26 | "Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you...and provoked you to anger." | Confession of ancestors' sin and rebellion. |
| Manasseh's specific reign: | ||
| 2 Chr 33:1-9 | "He practiced soothsaying and divination and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger." | Parallel account emphasizing the same acts. |
| 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." | Long-term judgment due to Manasseh's deeds. |
2 Kings 21 verses
2 Kings 21 6 Meaning
Second Kings 21:6 details King Manasseh's extreme apostasy and open defiance against God. It catalogues his embrace of numerous practices explicitly forbidden by divine law, including child sacrifice, various forms of divination and occult arts, and communication with familiar spirits. These acts collectively constituted great evil, openly challenging the Lord's authority and justly provoking His intense anger.
2 Kings 21 6 Context
Chapter 21 of 2 Kings introduces King Manasseh, the son of the righteous King Hezekiah. Hezekiah had famously led a significant spiritual reform, tearing down idolatrous altars and restoring proper worship of Yahweh. Manasseh, however, diametrically reversed his father's policies, establishing himself as Judah's most wicked king. Verse 6 summarizes his pervasive and comprehensive embrace of all forms of pagan and occult practices, directly contravening the Mosaic covenant. His reign represented a deep spiritual rebellion and marked a severe moral decline for the kingdom of Judah, sowing the seeds for its eventual destruction. This verse highlights the deep spiritual betrayal, not merely petty offenses, but acts that assaulted the very nature and demands of God. The explicit list of forbidden practices serves as a direct polemic against the contemporary Canaanite religions that promoted such activities.
2 Kings 21 6 Word analysis
- And he made his son pass through the fire: Hebrew: הֶעֱבִיר אֶת־בְּנ֖וֹ בָּאֵֽשׁ (he'evir et-bəno ba'esh). This phrase is a common biblical idiom denoting child sacrifice, primarily associated with the pagan god Molech. It involved consecrating, dedicating, or actually burning children in fire as an offering. This act was an ultimate transgression against Yahweh's covenant, profoundly defiling the land and representing the absolute depths of depravity and apostasy, trading God's gift of life for a false deity.
- and observed times: Hebrew: וַיְעוֹנֵֽן (vayəʿonen). Derived from a root related to 'clouds' or 'omens.' It signifies practicing soothsaying, augury, interpreting signs, or seeking knowledge of the future through omens, often meteorological or astrological. This was explicitly forbidden as it relied on external, non-divine sources for guidance, effectively distrusting God's perfect counsel.
- and used enchantments: Hebrew: וַיְנַחֵֽשׁ (vaynnahesh). Connected to the word for 'serpent' (nachash), this term broadly refers to divination, charming, or performing spells. It suggests attempts to manipulate circumstances or gain knowledge through forbidden means, often by interpreting signs or engaging in magic, implying illicit spiritual power.
- and dealt with familiar spirits: Hebrew: וְעָ֥שָׂה אוֹב֖וֹת (və'asah 'ovot).
Ovotrefers to necromancers or mediums, literally "bottles" or "ventriloquists," indicating one who communicates with the dead, producing voices from underground. Such practices were a profound perversion of true spirituality, attempting to bypass God's divine will and revelation to consult demonic or dead entities for knowledge. - and wizards: Hebrew: וְיִדְעֹנִ֑ים (vəyid'onim).
Yid'onim(from the root "to know") signifies those who have "knowing spirits," often referring to practitioners of illicit magic, sorcery, or specialized forms of necromancy who claim to possess hidden knowledge or communicate with spiritual beings other than God. This category is distinct from, yet closely associated with, familiar spirits. - he wrought much wickedness: Hebrew: הַרְבֵּ֣ה הָרָ֔ע (harbeh hara'). The Hebrew word "harbeh" means 'much' or 'great.' Manasseh's wickedness was not an isolated act but extensive, pervasive, and severe in its scope and frequency. It indicates a systematic and unrepentant lifestyle of evil.
- in the sight of the Lord: Hebrew: בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהוָ֗ה (b'einei Yahweh). This common biblical phrase emphasizes God's direct observation of human actions. Manasseh's transgressions were committed openly, indicating a brazen disregard for God's presence and laws, fully exposed to divine scrutiny and judgment.
- to provoke him to anger: Hebrew: לְהַכְעִ֥יסוֹ (ləhakə'isō). This phrase underscores the outcome of Manasseh's actions: they ignited God's righteous wrath. It signifies not a human emotional outburst, but the just and inevitable divine reaction to flagrant rebellion and covenant-breaking.
Words-Group Analysis:
- "he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards": This sequence of acts showcases the full spectrum of Manasseh's comprehensive apostasy. It starts with the most horrific (child sacrifice) and moves to various forms of occultic, forbidden practices. These are all capital offenses under the Mosaic Law, demonstrating a complete rejection of Yahweh and an adoption of the abominable practices of the surrounding pagan nations that Israel was meant to purge.
- "wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger": This grouping provides the divine judgment and outcome of Manasseh's specific actions. "Much wickedness" sums up the preceding list and emphasizes its extent. "In the sight of the Lord" establishes divine accountability. "To provoke him to anger" clarifies God's immediate and righteous response to such egregious, covenant-breaking acts, explaining the reason for subsequent divine judgment upon Judah.
2 Kings 21 6 Bonus section
The profound wickedness of Manasseh as described in 2 Kings 21:6 was considered by later biblical writers and prophetic figures (like Jeremiah) to be a key factor, perhaps the ultimate precipitating cause, for Judah's eventual downfall and Babylonian exile. Despite Manasseh's own repentance mentioned in 2 Chronicles (which is notably absent from the account in 2 Kings, underscoring 2 Kings' focus on his detrimental impact on the nation), the lasting effect of his deeply entrenched idolatry and the national apostasy it fostered proved irreparable. He introduced such widespread moral corruption that even the later reforms of King Josiah could not fully undo its societal and spiritual damage, sealing Judah's fate. His actions solidified a spiritual rebellion that undermined the very foundations of the covenant between God and His people, demonstrating the long-term, devastating consequences of deep-seated sin and unrepentant national wickedness.
2 Kings 21 6 Commentary
King Manasseh's reign, encapsulated in 2 Kings 21:6, marks a dark pinnacle of spiritual rebellion in Judah's history. Unlike the sporadic idol worship of previous kings, Manasseh implemented a systemic embrace of pagan practices, explicitly detailed in this verse. His dedication of children by fire was a direct affront to life, which belongs solely to God, reflecting the deepest depravity and a radical rejection of the covenant with Yahweh. Simultaneously, his dabbling in omens, sorcery, and necromancy represented a fundamental distrust in God's revealed word and a perverse seeking of knowledge and power from demonic sources, a stark violation of foundational Israelite law.
The phrase "he wrought much wickedness" signifies not isolated transgressions but a widespread, intentional campaign of evil, contrasting sharply with his father Hezekiah's reforms. His actions were "in the sight of the Lord," highlighting that despite human concealment or disregard, God observed every wicked deed, underscoring His sovereignty and impending justice. Ultimately, these heinous practices served "to provoke Him to anger," a descriptor not of a petulant human emotion but of God's holy, just, and righteous indignation against flagrant sin and deliberate defiance of His commands. This spiritual contamination ensured that divine judgment would befall Judah, paving the way for its later exile.
Practical usage:
- Beware of forbidden paths: Any attempt to gain insight, power, or control outside of God's revealed will (e.g., astrology, divination, spiritism, "new age" practices) constitutes an affront to His sovereignty, echoing Manasseh's sin.
- Holistic devotion: True worship requires wholehearted commitment to God, avoiding syncretism or blending faith with worldly practices that dishonor Him.
- Parental responsibility: This verse starkly reminds believers of the immense responsibility of parents to lead their children in the fear of the Lord and protect them from ungodly influences.