2 Chronicles 33:12

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 though shalt call upon me in tribulation, and shalt be converted, I will hear thee graciously; as it is written in Deut., (see C. iv. 29.; H.) and his prayer was thus heard by the Lord, and he was delivered and brought back to his kingdom, like Habacuc." S. Jerom, Trad. --- The author of the imperfect work on S. Matthew, (among the works of S. Chrysostom, hom. 1.; (H.) 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. C. --- Prayed, a proof of the efficacy of sincere repentance. W.