2 Chronicles 33:14

2Ch 33:14 Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.

Ver. 14. Now after this he built a wall.] It is uncertain how he got out of prison; whether with the king of Babylon’s good leave, or by making escape. There are that tell us, that the prison doors were opened, his chains loosened, and he delivered, as afterwards Peter was. {Act 12:3-11} Howsoever, he thought good to fortify himself against the Babylonians, and whatsoever enemies. This, though it be here set down first, yet Josephus saith, that the first work he did after his return, was to reform religion.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 33:14. After this he built a wall without the city of David — He repaired and strengthened that wall which Hezekiah had built, (2Ch 32:5,) and which, possibly, the king of Assyria, or of Babylon rather, when he last took Jerusalem, had caused to be thrown down, either wholly or in part. On the west side of Gihon — On the west side of the city of David, to which Hezekiah had brought the watercourse down, mentioned 2Ch 32:30, into the great pool which he had made to receive it: and possibly this wall was built to secure the free use of it to the citizens, when they should be distressed or besieged by an enemy.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33:14-17 Manasseh might have been repairing damage done to the walls when he was taken captive. His religious reforms were similar to Hezekiah’s but incomplete; Josiah later removed the Temple altars that Manasseh built (2 Kgs 23:12).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Read 2 Chron. 32:30.

Read 2 Chron. 27:3.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

he built a wall without the city . . . on the west side of Gihon . . . even to the entering in at the fish gate--"The well-ascertained position of the fish gate, shows that the valley of Gihon could be no other than that leading northwest of Damascus gate, and gently descending southward, uniting with the Tyropœon at the northeast corner of Mount Zion, where the latter turns at right angles and runs towards Siloam. The wall thus built by Manasseh on the west side of the valley of Gihon, would extend from the vicinity of the northeast corner of the wall of Zion in a northerly direction, until it crossed over the valley to form a junction with the outer wall at the trench of Antonia, precisely in the quarter where the temple would be most easily assailed" [BARCLAY].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. He built a wall] This was probably a weak place that he fortified; or a part of the wall which the Assyrians had broken down, which he now rebuilt.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(14) Now after this . . . valley.—Rather, And afterwards he built an outer wall to the city of David westward unto Gihon in the ravine. Manasseh completed the wall begun by Hezekiah (2Ch_32:5). This highly circumstantial account of the public works undertaken by Manasseh after his restoration, is utterly unlike fiction, and almost compels the assumption of a real historical source, no longer extant, from which the whole section has been derived.

Even to the entering in of the fish gate.—The fish-gate lay near the north-east corner of the lower city (Neh_3:3). The direction of the outer wall is described first westward, and then eastward.

And compassed about Ophel.—And surrounded the Ophel (mound); seil., with the wall, which he carried on from the north-east to the south-east. Uzziah and Jotham had already worked upon these fortifications (2Ch_26:9; 2Ch_27:3). Manasseh now finished them, “raising them up to a very great height.”

Raised it—i.e., the outer wall.

And put captains of war.—(Comp. 2Ch_17:2; 2Ch_32:6.) Literally, captains of an army ( sârê chayil).

Of Judah.—Heb., in Judah. Some MSS. and the Vulgale read as the Authorised Version.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14–17 (not in 2 Kin.). The Later Deeds of Manasseh

14. a wall without the city] R.V. an outer wall to the city.

even to the entering in] Or, “and [on the west] of the entering in.”

and compassed about] R.V. and he compassed about.

Ophel] Cp. 2Ch_27:3 (note).

and put captains of war] R.V. and he put valiant captains.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord,.... Which he had set there, Ch2 33:7.

and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem; see Ch2 33:4,

and cast them out of the city; perhaps into the brook Kidron; all this he did to show the sincerity of his repentance for his idolatry, and his abhorrence of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rather, “he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west of Gihon-in-the-valley.” The wall intended seems to have been that toward the northeast, which ran from the vicinity of the modern Damascus gate across the valley of Gihon, to the “fish-gate” at the northeast corner of the “city of David.”

We may gather from this verse that, late in his reign, Manasseh revolted from the Assyrians, and made preparations to resist them if they should attack him. Assyria began to decline in power about 647 B.C., and from that time her outlying provinces would naturally begin to fall off. Manasseh reigned until 642 B.C.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Without, including what is styled the second city; (4 K. xxii. 14,) or he perfected the works begun by his father, or repaired the wall which the Assyrians had thrown down, though we read not of their taking the city. C. --- Fish-gate....to Ophel, from the north-eastern corner, to the place opposite to the eastern gate of the temple, C. xxvii. 3. M. --- The fish-gate led towards Joppe, whence the city was supplied with fish. S. Jerom, Trad. --- It was also called David’s gate, because it stood near this city. By it, the Chaldeans afterwards rushed in, Sophonias i. 10. T.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He built a wall; he repaired and strengthened that wall which Hezekiah had built, 2Ch 32:5, and which possibly the king of Assyria, when he last took Jerusalem, had caused to be thrown down, either wholly or in part.

On the west side of Gihon; on the west side of the city of David, to which Hezekiah had brought this water-course down, 2Ch 32:30, into the great pool which he had made to receive it; and possibly this wall was built to secure the free use of it to the citizens when they should be distressed or besieged by an enemy.

Compassed about Ophel with a wall. Of Ophel see before, 2Ch 27:3.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. He built a wall without the city of David — A wall on the north side of the city, (as we infer from the description that follows,) where besieging armies pitched their camps, and where, accordingly, there was need of the strongest possible fortifications. Whether this was a new wall, first built by Manasseh, or the repair and strengthening of an older one, cannot be positively determined, but the expression built a wall, points rather to the erection of a new wall.

On the west side of Gihon — Rather, westward to Gihon, in the valley. The description seems to begin from the centre of the northern wall, and pass first westward to the valley, (either of Gihon, which was the northern part of the Hinnom valley, or of that branch of the Tyropoeon which begins near the modern Yaffa gate,) and then eastward even to the entering in at the fish gate, which was near the northeast corner of the ancient city. Neh_3:3, note.

Compassed about Ophel — The southern slope of Moriah, on whose wall Jotham had “built much.” See note on 2Ch_27:8. Manasseh strengthened and completed this work of his great-grandfather.

Raised it up a very great height — This wall, as exposed by modern excavations at Jerusalem, is found at present to be over seventy feet in height. “Upward of fifty shafts,” says Captain Warren, “were sunk about Ophel in search of the wall. Eight of these shafts were in connexion with the line of wall which is now found to extend as far as seven hundred feet from the first tower in a southeasterly direction along the eastern ridge of Ophel.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The wall without; or, Revised Version, the outer wall, is probably one with that of Hezekiah, (2Ch_32:5) which now Manasseh repairs, or rebuilds, and perhaps lengthens as well as heightens.

The fish gate, (Neh_13:16) left on the north of Jerusalem, and opened on the main road for the sea (Conder"s "Handbook," etc., p. 343). The wall traversed the north and east sides to Ophel, "on the wall" of which, it is said, (2Ch_27:3) "Jotham built much." Hezekiah also built much there, and now Manasseh raised it up a very great height.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After his return, Manasseh took measures to secure his kingdom, and especially the capital, against hostile attacks. "He built an outer wall of the city of David westward towards Gihon in the valley, and in the direction of the fish-gate; and he surrounded the Ophel, and made it very high." The words היצונה חומה (without the article) point to the building of a new wall. But since it has been already recorded of Hezekiah, in Ch2 32:5, that he built "the other wall without," all modern expositors, even Arnold in Herz.'s Realenc. xviii. S. 634, assume the identity of the two walls, and understand ויּבן of the completion and heightening of that "other wall" of which it is said מאד ויּגבּיהה, and which shut in Zion from the lower city to the north. In that case, of course, we must make the correction החומה. The words "westward towards Gihon in the valley, and לבוא ב, in the direction to (towards) the fish-gate," are then to be taken as describing the course of this wall from its centre, first towards the west, and then towards the east. For the valley of Gihon lay, in all probability, outside of the western city gate, which occupied the place of the present Jaffa gate. But the fish-gate was, according to Neh 3:3, at the east end of this wall, at no great distance from the tower on the north-east corner. The valley (הנּהל) is a hollow between the upper city (Zion) and the lower (Acra), probably the beginning of the valley, which at its south-eastern opening, between Zion and Moriah, is called Tyropoion in Josephus. The words, "he surrounded the Ophel," sc. with a wall, are not to be connected with the preceding clauses, as Berth. connects them, translating, "he carried the wall from the north-east corner farther to the south, and then round the Ophel;" for "between the north-east corner and the Ophel wall lay the whole east wall of the city, as far as to the south-east corner of the temple area, which yet cannot be regarded as a continuation of the wall to the Ophel wall" (Arnold, loc. cit.). Jotham had already built a great deal at the Ophel wall (Ch2 27:3). Manasseh must therefore only have strengthened it, and increased its height. On the words שׂ ויּשׂם cf. Ch2 32:6 and Ch2 17:2.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

General Information:

See: How to Translate Names

Manasseh built ... He surrounded ... He took away ... he had built on the mount

Manasseh did not do the building and construction himself, rather, he commanded his workers to do it. AT: "Manasseh commanded his workers to build ... They surrounded ... He commanded his workers to take away ... they had previously built on the mount" (See: Metonymy)

Gihon

This was the name of a spring and a stream. See how you translated the "waters of Gihon" in 2 Chronicles 32:30. AT: "the waters of Gihon" (See: How to Translate Names)

the hill of Ophel

Translate the name of this hill as you did in 2 Chronicles 27:3. (See: How to Translate Names)

raised the wall up

"built the wall up"

the fortified cities

This refers to cities with walls around them.

the foreign gods

"the false gods from other countries"

translationWords

city of David

false god

altar

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

of Gihon in the valley beside the valley of Gihon, the name of a place.

and he surrounded the Ophel And he surrounded from there the strength of the towers built with the work of Ophel.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.