2 Raja-raja 21:3-6

21:3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky ¹  and worshiped ²  them. 21:4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple, about which the Lord had said, “Jerusalem will be my home.” ³  21:5 In the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple he built altars for all the stars in the sky. 21:6 He passed his son ⁴  through the fire ⁵  and practiced divination and omen reading. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits, and appointed magicians to supervise it. ⁶  He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ⁷ 

[21:3]  ¹ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 17:16.

[21:3]  ² tn Or “served.”

[21:4]  ³ tn Heb “In Jerusalem I will place my name.”

[21:6]  ⁴ tc The LXX has the plural “his sons” here.

[21:6]  ⁵ sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.

[21:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with conjurers.” The Hebrew אוֹב (’ov), “ritual pit,” refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. In 1 Sam 28:7 the witch of Endor is called a בַעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov), “owner of a ritual pit.” See H. Hoffner, “Second millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967), 385-401.

[21:6]  ⁷ tc Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix (“him”) has been accidentally omitted in the MT by haplography (note the vav that immediately follows).