They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced all kinds of evil magic. They gave up following God’s rules. They did only what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. All these things made him very angry.
The Lord spoke to Moses. He said,“ Say to the Israelites,‘ Suppose a person sacrifices one of his children to the god Molek. It does not matter whether that person is an Israelite or an outsider who lives in Israel. He must be put to death. The members of the community must kill him by throwing stones at him.I will turn against that man. I will separate him from his people. That’s because he has sacrificed his child to Molek. He has made my sacred tent“ unclean.” He has treated my name as if it were not holy.Suppose the members of the community act like they don’t know that the man has sacrificed his child to Molek. And suppose they don’t put him to death.Then I will turn against that man and his family. I will separate them from their people. I will also separate all those who follow him by joining themselves to Molek. They are not faithful to me.
“‘ Do not hand over any of your children to be sacrificed to the god Molek. That would be treating my name as if it were not holy. I am the Lord your God.
Josiah destroyed the high place at Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He didn’t want anyone to use the high place to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to the god named Molek.
Here are things you must not do. Don’t sacrifice your children in the fire to other gods. Don’t practice any kind of evil magic at all. Don’t use magic to try to explain the meaning of warnings in the sky or of any other signs. Don’t take part in worshiping evil powers.
He sacrificed his own son in the fire to another god. He practiced all kinds of evil magic. He got messages from those who had died. He talked to the spirits of the dead. He did many things that were evil in the eyes of the Lord. Manasseh made the Lord very angry.
They have built the high places where they worship Baal. There they sacrifice their children in the fire as offerings to Baal. That is something I did not command or talk about. It did not even enter my mind.