What Does Jeremiah 32:35 Mean?
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 up in my heart that they should do this recoiling thing, to cause Judah to miss the mark.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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 unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.THE KEY
The verse exposes the violence as a built mechanism for making a whole people miss.
THE MEANING
This verse exposes a devotion built to make a whole people miss: children are forced through fire to Molech. It names this act an abomination and says it is neither commanded by God nor something that rises upon God’s heart.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the claim that child sacrifice is God’s command or desire: the verse says God neither commands it nor has it rise upon the heart.
THE ROOT
הַחֲטִיא
haḥati
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
Miss or fail to reach the intended mark; in this form, cause someone to miss.
“miss the mark” in this verse is haḥati. The verb is causative: Judah is being made to miss. “Missing” keeps the moral weight while showing the verse’s focus on deliberate influence and communal consequence.
ALSO GROWS
chet: Missing, fault, or sin.
חֵטְא
It shows the abstract English word “sin” as a miss or failure to reach what is right.
chatta't: Sin or missing; also a purification offering.
חַטָּאת
This ritual word shares the root, sharpening the contrast between a rite that addresses missing and a rite designed to make Judah miss.
לְהַעֲבִיר
leha'avir
GROWS FROM
עבר
ʿ-b-r
Cross or pass over; go beyond.
“to cause them to pass through” in this verse is leha'avir. The verb is causative too: the children are made to cross. The same root forms a word for transgression, so the forced passage and the boundary violation share one linguistic seed.
ALSO GROWS
avar: Cross, pass over, or go beyond.
עָבַר
It names the movement imposed on the children.
aveirah: Transgression, a crossing beyond a boundary.
עֲבֵרָה
It links the passage through fire with the violation the verse calls an abomination.
מֹלֶךְ
Molekh
GROWS FROM
מלך
m-l-k
King; rule or reign. The name Molech echoes this royal word family.
Molech echoes the Hebrew word family for king and rule; Baal (בַּעַל, ba’al, “master” or “owner”) adds another title of dominion. These names concentrate the scene around claims of mastery, while the verse denies that this violence is God’s command or heart.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King.
מֶלֶךְ
It makes the name’s royal resonance visible.
malakh: Reign or rule.
מָלַךְ
It brings out the claim of authority carried by the name.
malkhut: Kingship or realm.
מַלְכוּת
It shows the wider language of sovereignty around which the verse’s violence is organized.
THE PATTERN
Devotion is exposed by whether it destroys the vulnerable or welcomes them into life.
You shall not do so to the LORD your God, for every recoiling thing to the LORD, which he hates, they have done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burned in the fire to their gods.But when Jesus saw it, he was vexed, and said to them, Let the little children come to me, and do not hold them back, for the governance of God belongs to such as these.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.THE THREAD
Do not give any of your seed to pass through the fire to Molech, and do not pierce the nature of your God. I am the LORD.The same root עבר (ʿavar, “cross or pass over”) appears in both verses: here children are made to pass; there that passage is directly forbidden. Leviticus calls the act a profaning of God’s name, opening the connection between God’s nature and the verse’s refusal of this violence.
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