And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,

And when he was in distress, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

And after that he was in distress he prayed to the Lord his God: and did penance exceedingly before the God of his fathers.

And when he is in distress he hath appeased the face of Jehovah his God, and is humbled exceedingly before the God of his fathers,

And when he was in affliction, he sought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,

And crying out to the Lord his God in his trouble, he made himself low before the God of his fathers,

And after this, being in great anguish, he prayed to the Lord his God. And he did penance greatly before the God of his fathers.

And when he was in affliction - Here is a very large addition in the Chaldee: "For the Chaldeans made a brazen mule, pierced full of small holes, and put him within it, and kindled fires all around it; and when he was in this misery, he sought help of all the idols which he had made, but obtained none, for their were of no use. He therefore repented, and prayed before the Lord his God, and was greatly humbled in the sight of the Lord God of his fathers."

And when he was in affliction,.... In prison; however, in fetters; according to the Targum, the Chaldeans made an instrument of brass with holes in it, and put him in it, and fire about it, something like the brasen bull of Perillus; and the above Arabian writer (k) calls it a tower of brass:
he besought the Lord his God; by prayer and supplication:
and humbled himself greatly before the Lord God of his fathers; confessing his sins, expressing great sorrow and repentance for them.
(k) Abulph. & Suidas, ib. (Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 3. p. 67.)

when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God--In the solitude of exile or imprisonment, Manasseh had leisure for reflection. The calamities forced upon him a review of his past life, under a conviction that the miseries of his dethronement and captive condition were owing to his awful and unprecedented apostasy (2-Chronicles 33:7) from the God of his fathers. He humbled himself, repented, and prayed for an opportunity of bringing forth the fruits of repentance. His prayer was heard; for his conqueror not only released him, but, after two years' exile, restored him, with honor and the full exercise of royal power, to a tributary and dependent kingdom. Some political motive, doubtless, prompted the Assyrian king to restore Manasseh, and that was most probably to have the kingdom of Judah as a barrier between Egypt and his Assyrian dominions. But God overruled this measure for higher purposes. Manasseh now showed himself, by the influence of sanctified affliction, a new and better man. He made a complete reversal of his former policy, by not only destroying all the idolatrous statues and altars he had formerly erected in Jerusalem, but displaying the most ardent zeal in restoring and encouraging the worship of God.

לו וּכהצר = לו הצר וּבעת, 2-Chronicles 28:22. In this his affliction he bowed himself before the Lord God of his fathers, and besought Him; and the Lord was entreated of him, and brought him again to Jerusalem, into his kingdom. The prayer which Manasseh prayed in his need was contained, according to 2-Chronicles 33:18., in the histories of the kings of Israel, and in the sayings of the prophet Hozai, but has not come down to our day. The "prayer of Manasseh" given by the lxx is an apocryphal production, composed in Greek; cf. my Introduction to the Old Testament, 247.

Besought - It becomes sinners to humble themselves before that God, whom they have offended. It becomes sufferers to humble themselves before him that corrects them, and to accept of the punishment of their iniquity.