A location in the valley of Hinnom associated with child sacrifices to Molech.
About Topheth
Topheth was a place in the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem. Israel dishonored the Lord there by offering human sacrifices to the god Molech.
King Josiah, as part of his religious reform, destroyed Topheth and tore down its altars (2 Kings 23:10). These reforms opposed practices established earlier by his grandfather Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:6). Jeremiah, a prophet who lived during Josiah’s time, later condemned the return of such practices (Jeremiah 7:31–32).
Key References
So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
All Scripture References (9)
2 Kings (1)
He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
Isaiah (1)
For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
Jeremiah (7)
They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.
So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
and you are to proclaim to them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I will shatter this nation and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.
This is what I will do to this place and to its residents, declares the LORD. I will make this city like Topheth.
The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like that place, Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops they burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”
Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the house of the LORD and proclaimed to all the people,