Jeremiah 7:31

7:31 They have also built places of worship ¹  in a place called Topheth ²  in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they can sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire. That is something I never commanded them to do! Indeed, it never even entered my mind to command such a thing! ³ 

Deuteronomy 12:31

12:31 You must not worship the Lord your God the way they do! ⁴  For everything that is abhorrent ⁵  to him, ⁶  everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods!

Deuteronomy 12:2

12:2 You must by all means destroy ⁷  all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. ⁸ 

Deuteronomy 17:17

17:17 Furthermore, he must not marry many ⁹  wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold.

Deuteronomy 17:2

17:2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you – in one of your villages ¹⁰  that the Lord your God is giving you – who sins before the Lord your God ¹¹  and breaks his covenant

Deuteronomy 28:3

28:3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. ¹² 

Psalms 106:37-38

106:37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. ¹³ 

106:38 They shed innocent blood –

the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.

The land was polluted by bloodshed. ¹⁴ 

Ezekiel 16:20-21

16:20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them ¹⁵  as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough, 16:21 you slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. ¹⁶ 

Ezekiel 20:26

20:26 I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices ¹⁷  – they caused all their first born to pass through the fire ¹⁸  – so that I would devastate them, so that they will know that I am the Lord.’ ¹⁹ 

[7:31]  ¹ tn Heb “high places.”

[7:31]  ² tn Heb “the high places of [or in] Topheth.”

[7:31]  ³ tn Heb “It never entered my heart.” The words “to command such a thing” do not appear in the Hebrew but are added for the sake of clarity.

[12:31]  ⁴ tn Heb “you must not do thus to/for the Lord your God.”

[12:31]  ⁵ tn See note on this term at Deut 7:25.

[12:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “every abomination of the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 27.

[12:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “destroying you must destroy”; KJV “Ye shall utterly (surely ASV) destroy”; NRSV “must demolish completely.” The Hebrew infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by the words “by all means.”

[12:2]  ⁸ sn Every leafy tree. This expression refers to evergreens which, because they keep their foliage throughout the year, provided apt symbolism for nature cults such as those practiced in Canaan. The deity particularly in view is Asherah, wife of the great god El, who was considered the goddess of fertility and whose worship frequently took place at shrines near or among clusters (groves) of such trees (see also Deut 7:5). See J. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:569-70; J. DeMoor, TDOT 1:438-44.

[17:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “must not multiply” (cf. KJV, NASB); NLT “must not take many.”

[17:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “gates.”

[17:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “does the evil in the eyes of the Lord your God.”

[28:3]  ¹² tn Or “in the country” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). This expression also occurs in v. 15.

[106:37]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term שֵׁדִים (shedim, “demons”) occurs only here and in Deut 32:17. Some type of lesser deity is probably in view.

[106:38]  ¹⁴ sn Num 35:33-34 explains that bloodshed defiles a land.

[16:20]  ¹⁵ sn The sacrifice of children was prohibited in Lev 18:21; 20:2; Deut 12:31; 18:10.

[16:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and you gave them, by passing them through to them.” Some believe this alludes to the pagan practice of making children pass through the fire.

[20:26]  ¹⁷ tn Or “gifts.”

[20:26]  ¹⁸ sn This act is prohibited in Deut 12:29-31 and Jer 7:31; 19:5; 32:35. See also 2 Kgs 21:6; 23:10. This custom indicates that the laws the Israelites were following were the disastrous laws of pagan nations (see Ezek 16:20-21).

[20:26]  ¹⁹ sn God sometimes punishes sin by inciting the sinner to sin even more, as the biblical examples of divine hardening and deceit make clear. See Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., “Divine Hardening in the Old Testament,” BSac 153 (1996): 410-34; idem, “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 11-28. For other instances where the Lord causes individuals to act unwisely or even sinfully as punishment for sin, see 1 Sam 2:25; 2 Sam 17:14; 1 Kgs 12:15; 2 Chr 25:20.