2 Kings 16:3
"Made his son to pass through the fire"
The Hebrew says Ahaz "made his son pass through the fire." The library's Greek interprets: "delivered his son to the flames of Moloch"; the Vulgate: "consecrated his son, passing him through the fire." 2 Chronicles 28:3 says "burnt his children in the fire."
Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Unknown (debated)
Original Kings
No original survives.
Chronicles composed c. 4th century BC
2 Chronicles 28:3 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.
burnt his children in the fire
KJV of the Masoretic Text; Chronicles reads the act as sacrifice.
Translated c. 2nd century BC; kaige revision 1st c. BC–1st c. AD
Septuagint, 4 Kingdoms (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
il livra son fils aux flammes de Moloch
he delivered his son to the flames of Moloch
One Greek text (Vaticanus type, kaige revision) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.
c. AD 400
Jerome's Vulgate
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
filium suum consecravit, transferens per ignem
he consecrated his son, passing him through fire
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
וְגַם אֶת־בְּנוֹ הֶעֱבִיר בָּאֵשׁ
and also his son he made pass through the fire
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
made his son to pass through the fire
What changed, and why
Most scholars understand the phrase as child sacrifice, as in Jeremiah 7:31 and 32:35; a minority have proposed a non-lethal dedication. The ancient translations already disagree on how to render it.
What the evidence shows
- The witnesses interpret the phrase differently.
- The phrase refers to sacrifice.
Sources
- E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)
Related lessons
- Ahaz, Damascus and the Foreign Altar →Ahaz of Judah makes his son "pass through the fire." Rezin of Damascus and Pekah of Israel besiege Jerusalem. Ahaz sends the temple and palace silver and gold to Tiglath-pileser III: "I am thy servant and thy son." Assyria takes Damascus and kills Rezin. Ahaz meets Tiglath-pileser at Damascus, sends home the pattern of an altar he sees there, has it built in the temple, moves the bronze altar aside, and alters the temple furnishings "because of the king of Assyria."