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This signifies that he wished to lay bare his thoughts. For he who alone knows hearts is not himself ignorant of the thoughts of men; but to others he reveals the hidden things. He also enjoyed a splendid funeral. For they laid him to rest with great honor and glory. The book of Kings also taught the impiety of Manasseh. For not only did he surpass the impious kings, but also the nations, it says, which the Lord drove out from before the sons of Israel. And he paid the penalty for his impiety. For he was delivered to the king of the Assyrians, and was led away in fetters to Babylon. But the abyss of loving-kindness also imparted to him the streams of mercy; "For when Manasseh was afflicted," it says, "he besought the face of the Lord his God, and was humbled greatly before the God of his fathers. And he prayed to him, and he heard his voice, and restored him to Jerusalem to his kingdom; and Manasseh knew that the Lord himself is God." So greatly does discipline benefit those who are willing. For what he did not have while reigning, he acquired while serving as a slave. For having been freed from slavery, "he took away," it says, "the foreign gods, and the graven image from the house of the Lord, and all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem; and He cast them outside the city, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, and he sacrificed upon it a sacrifice of salvation and praise." And he taught the people to be pious. "For Manasseh told Judah," it says, "to serve the Lord, the God of Israel." But again the account has shown the imperfection of the people. For it added that the people still sacrificed on the high places. But that they sacrificed to God on the high places, the history here has clearly shown; for it added: "Yet in vain to the Lord their God." Now, the things concerning Amon and Josiah we have interpreted in the fourth book of Kings. But it must be investigated how, when the ark was inside the Holy of Holies, Josiah commanded the Levites to be purified, to place the holy ark in the house of the Lord. And the following also shows this: "And they placed the holy ark in the house, 80.857 which Solomon, the son of David the king of Israel, had built." But I think either that the Assyrian, having taken the city in the time of Manasseh, brought the ark out from within; or one of the impious kings who reigned after Hezekiah, either Manasseh or Amon; and then Josiah, having learned this, restored it to its proper place. However, the history again called Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun prophets. "According to the commandments," it says, "of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun, the prophets of the king." Now, I suppose Keresim to be a type of divination; for it is connected with ventriloquists, and with mediums, and with teraphim. And so great was the virtue of this king, that the prophet Jeremiah also composed a lament, and gave it to the male singers, and to the female singers, so that they might sing it each year when celebrating his memory. Now, the things concerning the remaining kings the prophet Jeremiah taught at greater length. And we, having interpreted that book through divine grace, have considered it superfluous to interpret this one again. But that the historiographer compiled these things from many prophetic books after a long time, the end of the book teaches; for it mentions Cyrus the king of the Persians, and the return of the captives.

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τοῦτο σημαίνει, ὅτι ἠθέλησε γυμνῶσαι τοὺς λογισμοὺς αὐτοῦ. Οὐ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἀγνοεῖ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ ἐνθυμήματα ὁ ἐπιστάμενος καρδίας μονώτατος· ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀποκαλύπτει τὰ κεκρυμμένα. Ἀπήλαυσε δὲ καὶ ἐπιταφίων λαμπρῶν. Μετὰ πολλῆς γὰρ αὐτὸν τιμῆς καὶ δόξης κατέθηκαν. Τοῦ Μανασσῆ δὲ τὴν ἀσέβειαν καὶ ἡ τῶν Βασιλειῶν ἐδίδαξε βίβλος. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον τοὺς δυσσεβεῖς βασιλεῖς ὑπερηκόντισεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἔθνη, φησὶν, ἃ ἐξῆρε Κύριος ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ. Ἔτισε δὲ καὶ δίκας τῆς ἀσεβείας. Παρεδόθη γὰρ τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, καὶ ἀπήχθη πεπεδημένος εἰς Βαβυλῶνα. Ἀλλὰ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ἡ ἄβυσσος μετέδωκε καὶ τούτῳ τῶν τοῦ ἐλέους κρουνῶν· "Ὡς γὰρ ἐθλίβη, φησὶ, Μανασσῆς, ἐδεήθη τοῦ προσώπου Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐταπεινώθη σφόδρα ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν πατέρων αὐτοῦ. Καὶ προσηύξατο πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐπήκουσε τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν αὐτὸν εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπὶ τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἔγνω Μανασσῆς, ὅτι Κύριος αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός." Τοσοῦτον ἡ παιδεία τοὺς βουλομένους ὀνίνησι. Ἃ γὰρ βασιλεύων οὐκ εἶχε, ταῦτα δουλεύων ἐκτήσατο. Τῆς γὰρ δουλείας ἀπαλλαγεὶς, "περιεῖλε, φησὶ, τοὺς θεοὺς τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους, καὶ τὸ γλυπτὸν ἐξ οἴκου Κυρίου, καὶ πάντα τὰ θυσιαστήρια, ἃ ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐν ὄρει οἴκου Κυρίου, καὶ ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ· καὶ Ἐξέβαλεν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως, καὶ κατώρθωσε θυσιαστήριον Κυρίου, καὶ ἔθυσεν ἐπ' αὐτῷ θυσίαν σωτηρίου καὶ αἰνέσεως." Ἐδίδαξε δὲ καὶ τὸν λαὸν εὐσεβεῖν. "Εἶπε γὰρ, φησὶ, Μανασσῆς τῷ Ἰούδα, δουλεύειν Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ Ἰσραήλ." Τὸ δὲ ἀτελὲς τοῦ λαοῦ πάλιν ὁ λόγος δεδήλωκεν. Ἐπήγαγε γὰρ, ὅτι ἔτι ὁ λαὸς ἐπὶ τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἐθυσίαζεν. Ὅτι δὲ τῷ Θεῷ ἐν τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς ἔθυον, σαφῶς ἐνταῦθα ἡ ἱστορία δεδήλωκεν· ἐπήγαγε γάρ· "Πλὴν εἰς κενὸν Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ αὐτῶν." Τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὸν Ἀμὼν καὶ Ἰωσίαν ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ τῶν Βασιλειῶν ἡρμηνεύσαμεν. Ζητητέον δὲ, πῶς ἔνδον οὔσης τῆς κιβωτοῦ ἐν τῷ Ἁγίῳ τῶν ἁγίων, τοῖς Λευΐταις ὁ Ἰωσίας ἁγνισθῆναι προσέταξε, τοῦ δοῦναι τὴν κιβωτὸν τὴν ἁγίαν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Κυρίου. Καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς δὲ τοῦτο δηλοῖ· "Καὶ ἔθηκαν τὴν κιβωτὸν τὴν ἁγίαν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ, 80.857 ὃν ᾠκοδόμησε Σολομὼν, ὃ υἱὸς ∆αβὶδ τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰσραήλ." Ἐγὼ δὲ οἶμαι, ἢ τὸν Ἀσσύριον ἐπὶ τοῦ Μανασσῆ τὴν πόλιν ἑλόντα ἐξαγαγεῖν τὴν κιβωτὸν ἔνδοθεν· ἤ τινα τῶν δυσσεβῶν βασιλέων, τῶν μετὰ τὸν Ἐζεκίαν βεβασιλευκότων, ἢ τὸν Μανασσὴν, ἢ τὸν Ἀμών· εἶτα τοῦτο τὸν Ἰωσίαν μεμαθηκότα εἰς τὸν οἰκεῖον ἀποκαταστῆσαι τόπον. Πάλιν μέντοι ἡ ἱστορία τὸν Ἀσὰφ, καὶ Αἰμὰν, καὶ Ἰδιθοὺμ προφήτας ἐκάλεσε. "Κατὰ τὰς ἐντολὰς, φησὶ, ∆αβὶδ, καὶ Ἀσὰφ, καὶ Αἰμὰν, καὶ Ἰδιθοὺμ, τῶν προφητῶν τοῦ βασι- λέως." Τὸ δὲ Κερεσεὶμ εἶδος εἶναι μαντείας ὑπολαμβάνω· τοῖς γὰρ ἐγγαστριμύθοις, καὶ τοῖς γνώσταις, καὶ τοῖς θεραφὶμ συνῆπται. Τοσαύτη δὲ ἦν τοῦδε τοῦ βασιλέως ἡ ἀρετὴ, ὅτι καὶ θρῆνον ὁ προφήτης Ἱερεμίας συνέγραψε, καὶ τοῦτον τοῖς ᾠδοῖς δέδωκε, καὶ ταῖς ᾀδούσαις, ὥστε τοῦτον ᾄδειν καθ' ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν ἐπιτελοῦντας τὴν μνήμην. Τὰ δὲ κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς βασιλεῖς ὁ προφήτης Ἱερεμίας διὰ πλειόνων ἐδίδαξεν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ διὰ τῆς θείας χάριτος κἀκείνην τὴν βίβλον ἑρμηνεύσαντες αὖθις ἑρμηνεῦσαι ταύτην περιττὸν ὑπειλήφαμεν. Ὅτι δὲ ἐκ πολλῶν προφητικῶν βίβλων ταῦτα ὁ ἱστοριογράφος μετὰ πολὺν χρόνον συνήγαγε, τὸ τέλος τῆς βίβλου ἐκδιδάσκει· μέμνηται γὰρ Κύρου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως, καὶ τῆς ἐπανόδου τῶν αἰχμαλώτων.