Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
2 Kings 21:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6And 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse names child sacrifice and occult practices within Manasseh's grave evil.
Read It With
- 2 Kings 21:1–21:9
Read 2 Kings 21:6 within 2 Kings 21:1–21:9. Manasseh rebuilds high places, worships astral powers, installs altars and an image in the temple, passes his son through fire, uses divination, and leads Judah further into evil.
Why This Verse Appears Here
This verse names child sacrifice and occult practices within Manasseh's grave evil. This detail is necessary to the thought unit “Manasseh reverses reform and exploits his son,” but it is not the unit's whole claim.
Read 2 Kings 21:1–9 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Kings 21:1–21:9 forms one scene or regnal notice: Manasseh rebuilds high places, worships astral powers, installs altars and an image in the temple, passes his son through fire, uses divination, and leads Judah further into evil.
Verse 1. 1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzi-bah.
Verse 2. 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
Verse 3. 3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
Verse 4. 4 And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
Verse 5. 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
Verse 6. 6 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.
Verse 7. 7 And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
Verse 8. 8 Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
Verse 9. 9 But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.
Follow the Context
- Manasseh rebuilds high places, worships astral powers, installs altars and an image in the temple, passes his son through fire, uses divination, and leads Judah further into evil.
- The unit's narrated outcome or evaluation prepares the next movement without making every described action exemplary.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
2 Kings 21:6 does not stand alone from 2 Kings 21:1–21:9. This indictment does not stigmatize neighboring peoples, practitioners today, or victims, and it does not reduce child harm to a religious-policy statistic.
What Remains True
This verse names child sacrifice and occult practices within Manasseh's grave evil. In the complete scene, that detail supports this larger account: Manasseh rebuilds high places, worships astral powers, installs altars and an image in the temple, passes his son through fire, uses divination, and leads Judah further into evil.
How It Can Shape Life
- When teaching 2 Kings 21:6, keep this contribution and 2 Kings 21:1–21:9 together. This indictment does not stigmatize neighboring peoples, practitioners today, or victims, and it does not reduce child harm to a religious-policy statistic.
Teach It Back
Explain 2 Kings 21:6's precise role in 2 Kings 21:1–21:9. Include the first historical horizon, surrounding verses, one person or cost that a royal or miracle-centered reading could obscure, material uncertainty, and one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Kings 21:1–21:9 — Manasseh reverses reform and exploits his sonSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The received narrative supplies its theological interpretation, but the precise source history, chronology, motives, and external correlation remain open to graded historical judgment.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 21:1–21:9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 21:1–21:9
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 660–662, translation and translator notes for 21:1–21:9
Open source ↗