What Does 2 Kings 23:10 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Topheth is made unclean so the passage that consumes a child can no longer be performed there.
THE MEANING
The verse confronts you with a site made unclean to stop anyone from sending a son or daughter through fire to Molech. It names the violence plainly: a child is made to pass through fire in the service of a god. The child’s body is not a passageway for worship.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a religious purpose can make violence toward children sacred; the verse calls the place defiled and disables the route.
THE ROOT
לְהַעֲבִיר
lehaʿavir
GROWS FROM
עבר
ʿ-b-r
to cross over or pass from one side to another
The verb makes the act a forced crossing: a child is made to pass through fire. The verse pairs that crossing with the defiling of Topheth, so the place that enables it is rendered unfit for the rite.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: to cross or pass over
עָבַר
This is the verb’s basic motion, made horrific here by the fire the child must cross.
ʿēver: the other side; beyond
עֵבֶר
This related form keeps the idea of crossing toward a far side, revealing the spatial force carried by “pass through.”
וְטִמֵּא
ve-timmēʾ
GROWS FROM
טמא
ṭ-m-ʾ
to be unclean or to render unclean
“defiled” in this verse is ve-timmēʾ. Defilement here has a concrete consequence: Topheth is rendered unfit for the practice carried out there. The verse connects the site’s changed condition with stopping a child from being made to cross through fire.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāmēʾ: unclean
טָמֵא
This form describes the condition imposed on Topheth.
ṭumʾāh: uncleanness, impurity
טֻמְאָה
This related noun makes visible the state that removes the site’s ritual fitness.
THE PATTERN
When worship becomes a channel for destruction, its practices and machinery are exposed and dismantled.
And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.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 commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;THE THREAD
And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.Both verses use the Hebrew verb להעביר (lehaʿavir), “to make pass through,” from עבר (ʿ-b-r), “to cross over.” Leviticus names the prohibited crossing; 2 Kings shows Topheth made unclean so that it cannot continue there.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us