| II Chronicles 33:12
| And after that he was in distress, he prayed to the Lord, his God: and did penance exceedingly before the God of his fathers.
| Distress. "When he had been conducted to Babylon, and cast into a brazen vessel full of holes, over a fire, he called upon all the names of the idols, which he was accustomed to adore; and, as he was not heard, nor set free by them, he recollected what he had often heard repeated by his father: When thou shalt call upon me in tribulation, and shalt be converted, I will hear thee graciously; as it is written in Deuteronomy, (see 2 Paralipomenon 4:29.; Haydock) and his prayer was thus heard by the Lord, and he was delivered and brought back to his kingdom, like Habacuc." (St. Jerome, Trad.) --- The author of the imperfect work on St. Matthew, (among the works of St. Chrysostom, hom. 1.; Haydock) says, that Manasses was barely allowed as much barley bread, and water mixed with vinegar, as would keep him alive. Whereupon, remembering the Lord, he had recourse to his clemency, and a miraculous flame surrounded him, and dissolving his chains, set him at liberty. Saos-duchin, the successor of Azarhaddon, probably restored him to his throne, some years after his captivity, or perhaps that very year, so that his repentance continued thirty-three years. (Calmet) --- Prayed, a proof of the efficacy of sincere repentance. (Worthington)
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