What Does 2 Chronicles 33:13 Mean?
And he prayed to him, and God was moved by him, and heard and responded to his plea, and turned him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD himself is God.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.THE KEY
The name tied to forgetting culminates in knowing: Manasseh’s return opens recognition.
THE MEANING
Manasseh is heard in distress, returned to Jerusalem and his kingdom, and comes to know the LORD as God. Being brought back restores his place and becomes the encounter through which he recognizes who has answered him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that being driven from one’s place makes return impossible.
THE ROOT
מְנַשֶּׁה
Menashsheh
GROWS FROM
נשה
Forget; cause to forget.
The name מְנַשֶּׁה (Menashsheh) is tied to נַשַּׁנִי (nashani, “he has made me forget”) in Genesis 41:51. Here, the sentence turns toward knowing: Manasseh יָדַע (yada, knows and perceives) as he is brought back.
ALSO GROWS
nashah: Forget; cause to forget.
נָשָׁה
This verb supplies the name’s association with forgetting.
nashani: He has made me forget.
נַשַּׁנִי
Joseph uses this form when explaining the name Manasseh in Genesis 41:51.
וַיְשִׁיבֵהוּ
wayeshivehu
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
Turn, return; in this form, bring back or restore.
“turned him back” in this verse is wayeshivehu. The root שׁוּב (shuv, turn or return) carries the sense of being brought back. The return restores Manasseh to his place, and the verse places that restoration immediately before his recognition of God.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
It names return as a change of direction, echoing Manasseh’s being brought back.
meshubah: Turning away, backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
The same root can describe turning away; here its direction reverses as Manasseh is restored.
יָדַע
yada
GROWS FROM
ידע
Know, recognize, perceive through encounter.
“knew” in this verse is yada. יָדַע (yada, know or perceive) can name recognition formed through encounter. Manasseh’s knowing follows answered prayer and restoration, grounding recognition in what he experiences.
ALSO GROWS
da’at: Knowledge, awareness.
דַּעַת
This noun carries the knowing that follows Manasseh’s experience of being heard and restored.
yedi’ah: Knowledge, knowing.
יְדִיעָה
It shares the root’s sense of recognition, which the verse connects with Manasseh’s return.
THE PATTERN
Being heard in distress can take the form of being returned to a place of belonging.
Then they cry out to the LORD in their narrowness, and he brings them out of their narrow places.And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall turn back to me with their whole heart.And he rose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and his inward parts were moved, and he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him.THE THREAD
And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall turn back to me with their whole heart.Jeremiah carries the same roots: שׁוּב (shuv, return) and יָדַע (yada, know or perceive). Chronicles narrates the return and then the knowing; Jeremiah holds both in one promise, showing restoration and recognition as parts of the same movement.
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