2 Kings 23:26 Explained in Context

Selected verse

Verse 26. Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse states that Josiah's reform did not remove the judgment tied to Manasseh.

Read It With

2 Kings 23:24–23:27

Read 2 Kings 23:26 within 2 Kings 23:24–23:27. Josiah removes mediums, images, and abominations, receives unmatched praise for turning to Torah, yet the LORD's anger linked to Manasseh remains and Jerusalem is marked for rejection.

Why This Verse Appears Here

This verse states that Josiah's reform did not remove the judgment tied to Manasseh. This detail is necessary to the thought unit “Josiah's unmatched devotion does not revoke Jerusalem's judgment,” but it is not the unit's whole claim.

Read 2 Kings 23:24–27 together

Why these verses belong together: 2 Kings 23:24–23:27 forms one scene or regnal notice: Josiah removes mediums, images, and abominations, receives unmatched praise for turning to Torah, yet the LORD's anger linked to Manasseh remains and Jerusalem is marked for rejection.

Verse 24. Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

Verse 25. And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

Verse 27. And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

Follow the Context

Josiah removes mediums, images, and abominations, receives unmatched praise for turning to Torah, yet the LORD's anger linked to Manasseh remains and Jerusalem is marked for rejection.
The unit's narrated outcome or evaluation prepares the next movement without making every described action exemplary.

Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation

“notwithstanding”

In plain language: Judgment remains despite Josiah's exceptional reform.

The received narrative resists an obedience-guarantees-safety formula.

Why it matters: Later victims cannot be assigned Manasseh's personal guilt.

How certain? very strong

What This Verse Is Not Saying

2 Kings 23:26 does not stand alone from 2 Kings 23:24–23:27. Josiah's reform does not supply a prosperity formula, and inherited consequences do not make later victims personally guilty for Manasseh's acts.

What Remains True

This verse states that Josiah's reform did not remove the judgment tied to Manasseh. In the complete scene, that detail supports this larger account: Josiah removes mediums, images, and abominations, receives unmatched praise for turning to Torah, yet the LORD's anger linked to Manasseh remains and Jerusalem is marked for rejection.

How It Can Shape Life

When teaching 2 Kings 23:26, keep this contribution and 2 Kings 23:24–23:27 together. Josiah's reform does not supply a prosperity formula, and inherited consequences do not make later victims personally guilty for Manasseh's acts.

Teach It Back

Explain 2 Kings 23:26's precise role in 2 Kings 23:24–23:27. 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.

Explain the verse in context

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Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read 2 Kings 23:24–23:27 — Josiah's unmatched devotion does not revoke Jerusalem's judgment

Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? probable

Where care is needed

The tension between Josiah's reform and irrevocable judgment is central to compositional theories; the received form refuses a simple obedience-guarantees-safety equation.

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 23:24–23:27, 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 23:24–23:27

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. 663–665, translation and translator notes for 23:24–23:27

Open source ↗

Open the complete thought-unit research record