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2 Kings 21 · a question people ask

Whose innocent blood did Manasseh shed?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say. It says only that "Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another" (21:16), and adds it to "his sin with which he made Judah to sin" (21:16). 2 Kings says it once more, in its own words, when Judah is removed: "for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon" (24:4). Neither verse names anyone, and no verse in 2 Kings tells who they were. The law had set apart cities of refuge (Deuteronomy 19:7) "so that innocent blood will not be shed in the middle of your land" (Deuteronomy 19:10). These notes don't guess whose blood it was.

The verses

“Moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; in addition to his sin with which he made Judah to sin, in doing that which was evil in the LORD’s sight.”
2 Kings 21:16 · World English Bible
“and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon.”
2 Kings 24:4 · World English Bible
“Therefore I command you to set apart three cities for yourselves.”
Deuteronomy 19:7 · World English Bible
“This is so that innocent blood will not be shed in the middle of your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, leaving blood guilt on you.”
Deuteronomy 19:10 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Kings 21

2 Kings 21: The line of Samaria

Manasseh set an engraved image in the very house of which the LORD had said, "I will put my name forever" (21:7), and the LORD answered by his servants the prophets: he would stretch over Jerusalem "the line of Samaria" (21:13). Yet the chapter closes with Josiah on the throne (21:26), the king a man of God had named at Bethel in Jeroboam's day (1 Kings 13:2).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions