Deuteronomy 18:10
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
10 (A)Let there not be found among you anyone who causes their son or daughter to pass through the fire,[a] or practices divination, or is a soothsayer, augur, or sorcerer,
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- 18:10–11 Causes their son or daughter to pass through the fire: to Molech. See note on Lv 18:21. Such human sacrifices are classed here with various occult and magical practices because they were believed to possess powers for averting a calamity; cf. 2 Kgs 3:27. Three other categories of magic are listed here: divination of the future (by a soothsayer or augur); black magic (by a sorcerer or one who casts spells); and necromancy (by one who consults ghosts and spirits, or seeks oracles from the dead to divine the future).
Leviticus 18:21
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
21 (A)You shall not offer any of your offspring for immolation to Molech,[a] thus profaning the name of your God. I am the Lord.
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Leviticus 20:2-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
2 Tell the Israelites: Anyone, whether an Israelite or an alien residing in Israel, who gives offspring to Molech shall be put to death.(A) The people of the land shall stone that person. 3 (B)I myself will turn against and cut off(C) that individual from among the people; for in the giving of offspring to Molech, my sanctuary was defiled(D) and my holy name was profaned. 4 If the people of the land condone the giving of offspring to Molech, by failing to put the wrongdoer to death, 5 I myself will turn against that individual and his or her family, and I will cut off from their people both the wrongdoer and all who follow this person by prostituting themselves with Molech.
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2 Kings 3:27
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
27 So he took his firstborn, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him as a burnt offering upon the wall. The wrath against Israel[a] was so great that they gave up the siege and returned to their own land.(A)
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- 3:27 The wrath against Israel: probably the wrath of Chemosh, the Moabite god to whom the child was offered. The Israelites, intimidated by this wrath, retreat.
2 Kings 16:3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel; he even immolated his child by fire, in accordance with the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.(A)
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2 Kings 21:6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
6 He immolated his child by fire. He practiced soothsaying and divination, and reintroduced the consulting of ghosts and spirits.
He did much evil in the Lord’s sight and provoked him to anger.(A)
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2 Kings 23:10
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
10 The king also defiled Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, so that there would no longer be any immolation of sons or daughters by fire[a] in honor of Molech.(A)
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- 23:10 Topheth…by fire: Topheth was a cultic site probably in the Hinnom Valley just west of Jerusalem where, apparently, children were immolated to the deity Molech (Hebrew melek, “king,” deformed in the biblical tradition to “Molech”). The practice was condemned by Deuteronomic law and denounced by Jeremiah (Dt 12:31; Jer 7:29–31). In Jer 19 the deity is identified as the Canaanite god Baal.
Jeremiah 7:31
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
31 In the Valley of Ben-hinnom[a] they go on building the high places of Topheth to sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire, something I never commanded or considered.
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- 7:31 Valley of Ben-hinnom: this valley was probably south of Jerusalem. Topheth: perhaps, “fire pit.”
Jeremiah 19:5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
5 building high places for Baal to burn their children in fire as offerings to Baal—something I never considered or said or commanded.(A)
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