I gotta have my orange juice.

There are a surprising number of references to the practice of child sacrifice in the Bible, to its demon-idols, and to the places of sacrifice. I’ve tried to collect here all those that I can find. I have left off occurrences of Gehenna, but the background is obviously a strong one.

And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am Yahweh. (Leviticus 18:21)

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile my sanctuary and profane my holy name. And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him, then I will set my face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech. (Leviticus 20:1-5)

For fire went out from Heshbon,
A flame from the city of Sihon;
It consumed Ar of Moab,
The lords of the heights of the Arnon.
​​Woe to you, Moab!
You have perished, O people of Chemosh!
He has given his sons as fugitives,
And his daughters into captivity,
To Sihon king of the Amorites. (Numbers 21:28-29)

“When Yahweh your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship Yahweh your God in that way; for every abomination to Yahweh which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. (Deuteronomy 12:29-31)

“When you come into the land which Yahweh your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to Yahweh, and because of these abominations Yahweh your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before Yahweh your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not appointed such for you. (Deuteronomy 18:9-14)

“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of Yahweh your God, . . . they shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which Yahweh your God has given you. You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you. The sensitive and very refined man among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the rest of his children whom he leaves behind, so that he will not give any of them the flesh of his children whom he will eat, because he has nothing left in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, will refuse to the husband of her bosom, and to her son and her daughter, her placenta which comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates. (Deuteronomy 28)

And the border [of the tribe of Judah] went up by the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to the southern slope of the Jebusite city (which is Jerusalem). The border went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the Valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the end of the Valley of Rephaim northward. (Joshua 15:8)

Then the border [of the tribe of Benjamin] came down to the end of the mountain that lies before the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is in the Valley of the Rephaim on the north, descended to the Valley of Hinnom, to the side of the Jebusite city on the south, and descended to En Rogel. (Joshua 18:16)

‘And now Yahweh God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it? Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever Yahweh our God takes possession of before us, we will possess. (Judges 11:23-24)

For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of Yahweh, and did not fully follow Yahweh, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. So Yahweh became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from Yahweh God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what Yahweh had commanded. (1 Kings 11:7-10)

And [Ahijah] said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), because they have forsaken me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways to do what is right in my eyes and keep my statutes and my judgments, as did his father David. (1 Kings 11:31-33)

In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation with Abiram his firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, according to the word of Yahweh, which He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun. (1 Kings 16:34)

Then [the king of Moab] took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering upon the wall; and there was great indignation against Israel. So they departed from him and returned to their own land. (2 Kings 3:27)

And it happened after this that Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver.

Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”

And he said, “If Yahweh does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?” Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you?”

And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.” (2 Kings 6:24-29)

But [Ahaz king of Judah] walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh had cast out from before the children of Israel. (2 Kings 16:3)

And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke Him to anger. Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone. (2 Kings 17:17-18)

Also [Manasseh king of Judah] made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke Him to anger. (2 Kings 21:6)

And [Josiah] defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech. Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of Yahweh, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. The altars that were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Yahweh, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron. Then the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images, and filled their places with the bones of men. (2 Kings 23:10-14)

[Ahaz king of Judah] burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh had cast out before the children of Israel. (2 Chronicles 28:3)

Also [Manasseh king of Judah] caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke Him to anger. (2 Chronicles 33:6)

And as for the villages with their fields, some of the children of Judah dwelt in Kirjath Arba and its villages, . . . in Azekah and its villages. They dwelt from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom. (Nehemiah 11)

They even sacrificed their sons
And their daughters to demons,
​​And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was polluted with blood. (Psalm 106:37-38)

For through the voice of Yahweh
Assyria will be beaten down,
As He strikes with the rod.
​​And in every place where the staff of punishment passes,
Which Yahweh lays on him,
​​It will be with tambourines and harps;
And in battles of brandishing He will fight with it.
​​For Tophet was established of old,
Yes, for the king it is prepared.
He has made it deep and large;
Its pyre is fire with much wood;
The breath of Yahweh, like a stream of brimstone,
​​Kindles it. (Isaiah 30:31-33)

For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight,” says Yahweh. “They have set their abominations in the house which is called by My name, to pollute it. And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says Yahweh, “when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away. Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate. (Jeremiah 7:30-34)

“Because they have forsaken me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents (they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into my mind), therefore behold, the days are coming,” says Yahweh, “that this place shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives; their corpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. I will make this city desolate and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues. And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the desperation with which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall drive them to despair.” ’

“Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, and say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury them in Tophet till there is no place to bury. Thus I will do to this place,” says Yahweh, “and to its inhabitants, and make this city like Tophet. And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’ ”

Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, “Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.’ ” (Jeremiah 19)

And they have turned to me the back, and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into my mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.’ (Jeremiah 32:33-35)

Against Moab.
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: . . .
​​“Moab is destroyed;
Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard; . . .
​​For because you have trusted in your works and your treasures,
You also shall be taken.
And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity,
His priests and his princes together. . . .
​​Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh,
As the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence. . . .
​​Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh perish;
For your sons have been taken captive,
And your daughters captive.
​​“Yet I will bring back the captives of Moab
In the latter days,” says Yahweh.
Thus far is the judgment of Moab. (Jeremiah 48)

Against the Ammonites.
Thus says Yahweh:
“Has Israel no sons?
Has he no heir?
Why then does Milcom inherit Gad,
​​And his people dwell in its cities?
​​Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says Yahweh,
“That I will cause to be heard an alarm of war
In Rabbah of the Ammonites;
It shall be a desolate mound,
And her villages shall be burned with fire.
Then Israel shall take possession of his inheritance,” says Yahweh.
​“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is plundered!
Cry, you daughters of Rabbah,
Gird yourselves with sackcloth!
Lament and run to and fro by the walls;
For Milcom shall go into captivity
With his priests and his princes together. (Jeremiah 49:1-3)

“Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire? (Ezekiel 16:20-21)

“Therefore I also gave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live; and I pronounced them unclean because of their ritual gifts, in that they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fire, that I might make them desolate and that they might know that I am Yahweh.” ’ . . . Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers, and committing harlotry according to their abominations? For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I will not be inquired of by you. (Ezekiel 20)

Yahweh also said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire, to devour them. Moreover they have done this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and profaned My Sabbaths. For after they had slain their children for their idols, on the same day they came into My sanctuary to profane it; and indeed thus they have done in the midst of My house. (Ezekiel 23:36-39)

“Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings
​​In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
​​You also carried Sikkuth your king [alt: tabernacle of Molech]
And Chiun, your idols,
​​The star of your gods,
Which you made for yourselves. (Amos 5:25-26)

“I will stretch out My hand against Judah,
​​And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place,
The names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests—
​​Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;
Those who worship and swear oaths by Yahweh,
But who also swear by Milcom;
​​Those who have turned back from following Yahweh,
And have not sought Yahweh, nor inquired of Him.” (Zephaniah 1:4-6)

Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:

‘​Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness,
O house of Israel?
You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
And the star of your god Remphan,
Images which you made to worship;
And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’ (Acts 7:42-43, quoting Amos 5)