Text: Jeremiah 19:5
OT Text Referred to: 2 Chronicles 28:3
Subject: child sacrifice in the Valley of Ben Hinnom
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Both texts describe the abomination of child sacrifice in the Valley of Hinnom (גֵּי בֶן־הִנֹּם, gei ven-hinnom). Jeremiah 19:5 condemns those who "burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal," while 2 Chronicles 28:3 records that King Ahaz "sacrificed his sons in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations." The Chronicler identifies Ahaz as a historical example of the very practice Jeremiah prophetically condemns — both locate the crime in the same geographical valley and use the phrase "burn in fire" (בָּעֵר בָּאֵשׁ, ba'er ba'esh). Jeremiah adds the emphatic divine disavowal: "something I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it even enter My mind," making clear that child sacrifice represents the extreme antithesis of true worship.