An example of humility and repentance

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The following is found in 2 Chronicles 33:1-20. Imagine a defiant 12 year king coming to power. Imagine this king doing EVERYTHING bad in the eyes of God; even worse than the pagan nations who had previously occupied the land. And so beginning in verse 1:

1 Twelve years old was Ma·nas´seh when he began to reign, and for fifty-five years he reigned in Jerusalem.

2 And he proceeded to do what was bad in Jehovah’s eyes, according to the detestable things of the nations that Jehovah had driven out from before the sons of Israel. 3 So he built again the high places that Hez·e·ki´ah his father had pulled down, and set up altars to the Ba´als and made sacred poles, and he began to bow down to all the army of the heavens and serve them. 4 And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, respecting which Jehovah had said: “In Jerusalem my name will prove to be to time indefinite.” 5 And he went on to build altars to all the army of the heavens in two courtyards of the house of Jehovah. 6 And he himself made his own sons pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hin´nom, and practiced magic and used divination and practiced sorcery and made spiritistic mediums and professional foretellers of events. He did on a grand scale what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah, to offend him.

7 Furthermore, he put the carved image that he had made in the house of the [true] God, respecting which God had said to David and to Sol´o·mon his son: “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I shall put my name to time indefinite. 8 And I shall not remove the foot of Israel again from off the ground that I assigned to their forefathers, provided only that they take care to do all that I have commanded them concerning all the law and the regulations and the judicial decisions by the hand of Moses.” 9 And Ma·nas´seh kept seducing Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do worse than the nations that Jehovah had annihilated from before the sons of Israel.

10 And Jehovah kept speaking to Ma·nas´seh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 Finally Jehovah brought against them the chiefs of the army that belonged to the king of As·syr´i·a, and so they captured Ma·nas´seh in the hollows and bound him with two fetters of copper and took him to Babylon. 12 And as soon as it caused him distress, he softened the face of Jehovah his God and kept humbling himself greatly because of the God of his forefathers. 13 And he kept praying to Him, so that He let himself be entreated by him and He heard his request for favor and restored him to Jerusalem to his kingship; and Ma·nas´seh came to know that Jehovah is the [true] God.

14 And after this he built an outer wall for the City of David to the west of Gi´hon in the torrent valley and as far as the Fish Gate, and he ran [it] around to O´phel and proceeded to make it very high. Further, he put chiefs of the military force in all the fortified cities in Judah. 15 And he proceeded to remove the foreign gods and the idol image from the house of Jehovah and all the altars that he had built in the mountain of the house of Jehovah and in Jerusalem and then had them thrown outside the city. 16 Moreover, he prepared the altar of Jehovah and began to sacrifice upon it communion sacrifices and thanksgiving sacrifices and went on to say to Judah to serve Jehovah the God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless, the people were still sacrificing upon the high places; only it was to Jehovah their God.

18 As for the rest of the affairs of Ma·nas´seh and his prayer to his God and the words of the visionaries that kept speaking to him in the name of Jehovah the God of Israel, there they are among the affairs of the kings of Israel. 19 As for his prayer and how his entreaty was granted him and all his sin and his unfaithfulness and the locations in which he built high places and set up the sacred poles and the graven images before he humbled himself, there they are written among the words of his visionaries. 20 Finally Ma·nas´seh lay down with his forefathers, and they buried him at his house; and A´mon his son began to reign in place of him.

He started out bad, and eventually humbled himself and repented. The point of this post is to say it's not too late to "[take] in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ." (John 17:3)

As a bonus read 2 Chronicles 33:21-24 to find out how the kingship of Manasseh's son A´mon turned out!