2 Kings 17:17

17:17 They passed their sons and daughters through the fire, 1  and practiced divination and omen reading. They committed themselves to doing evil in the sight of the Lord and made him angry. 2 

Leviticus 18:21

18:21 You must not give any of your children as an offering to Molech, 3  so that you do not profane 4  the name of your God. I am the Lord!

Deuteronomy 12:28

12:28 Pay careful attention to all these things I am commanding you so that it may always go well with you and your children after you when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 12:31

12:31 You must not worship the Lord your God the way they do! 5  For everything that is abhorrent 6  to him, 7  everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods!

1 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.

2 tn Heb “they sold themselves to doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”

3 tn Heb “And from your seed you shall not give to cause to pass over to Molech.” Smr (cf. also the LXX) has “to cause to serve” rather than “to cause to pass over.” For detailed remarks on Molech and Molech worship see N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (NCBC), 87-88; P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 259-60; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 333-37, and the literature cited there. It could refer to either human sacrifice or a devotion of children to some sort of service of Molech, perhaps of a sexual sort (cf. Lev 20:2-5; 2 Kgs 23:10, etc.). The inclusion of this prohibition against Molech worship here may be due to some sexual connection of this kind, or perhaps simply to the lexical link between זֶרַע (zera’) meaning “seed, semen” in v. 20 but “offspring” in v. 21.

4 tn Heb “and you shall not profane.” Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.

5 tn Heb “you must not do thus to/for the Lord your God.”

6 tn See note on this term at Deut 7:25.

7 tn Heb “every abomination of the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 27.