Bible Strands
2 Kings 23:10
He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Josiah acts during his reign to purge Judah of idolatrous practices, specifically targeting child sacrifice sites in Jerusalem.
The words — טִמֵּא (ti.mē') means "he made unclean" or desecrated, and תּוֹפֶת (to.phet) identifies the specific site, Topheth, located in the Valley of Ben-hinnom.
The thread — Isaiah 30:33 describes Topheth as a prepared funeral pyre, while Jeremiah 19:6 declares the location will cease to bear either name.
Why it lands — The text records Josiah's physical removal of child sacrifice to Molech by defiling Topheth. It requires acknowledgment that covenant obedience demands the active dismantling of idolatrous practice, not merely its prohibition.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 30:33 For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
- Jeremiah 19:6 So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
- Leviticus 18:21 You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
- Jeremiah 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.
- Joshua 15:8 From there the border went up the Valley of Ben-hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem) and ascended to the top of the hill that faces the Valley of Hinnom on the west, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.
- Jeremiah 32:35 They have built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech—something I never commanded them, nor had it ever entered My mind, that they should commit such an abomination and cause Judah to sin.
- Deuteronomy 18:10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery,
- Jeremiah 19:11 and you are to proclaim to them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I will shatter this nation and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.
- 1 Kings 11:7 At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.
- 2 Kings 16:3 Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.