So the Lord brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors.And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.Afterward he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David, west of the Gihon spring in the valley, as far as the entrance of the Fish Gate and encircling the hill of Ophel; he also made it much higher. He stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities in Judah.
In the thirty- seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel- Marduk became king of Babylon, on the twenty- fifth day of the twelfth month, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah and freed him from prison.He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table.Day by day the king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived, till the day of his death.
