13 ‘The houses in Jerusalem will become as “dirty” as this place, Topheth. The kings’ palaces {\cf2\super [161]} will be ruined like this place, Topheth. Why? Because the people worshiped false gods on the roofs of those houses. {\cf2\super [162]} They worshiped the stars and burned sacrifices to honor them. They gave drink offerings to false gods.’”
13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.
13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be like the place of Topheth–even all the houses upon whose roofs incense has been burned to all the host of the heavens and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods. [Acts 7:42, 43.]
13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings unto other gods.
13 The houses of Jerusalem and those of Judah’s kings will become as foul as Topheth—all the houses on whose roofs they made offerings to the heavenly force and poured out drink offerings to other gods.
13 And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be unclean, just like the place of Topheth: all the houses on whose roofs they sacrificed to all the armies of heaven and poured out libations to strange gods."
The Babylonian army is already attacking the city of Jerusalem. They will soon enter the city and start a fire. They will burn this city down. There are houses in this city where the people of Jerusalem made me angry by offering sacrifices to the false god Baal {\cf2\super [270]} on the housetops. And the people poured out drink offerings to other idol gods. The Babylonian army will burn down those houses.
In the past, the kings of Judah had built altars on the roof of Ahab’s building. King Manasseh had also built altars in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. Josiah destroyed all those altars and threw the broken pieces into Kidron Valley.
go on their roofs {\cf2\super [2]} to worship the stars. {\cf2\super [3]} People will forget about those false priests. Some people say they worship me. Those people promised to worship me, but now they worship the false god Milcom. {\cf2\super [4]} So I will remove those people from that place.
This is what the people of Judah are doing: The children gather wood. The fathers use the wood to make a fire. The women make the dough and make cakes of bread to offer to the Queen of Heaven. {\cf2\super [62]} Those people of Judah pour out drink offerings to worship other gods. They do this to make me angry.
And be careful when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars—all the many things in the sky. Be careful that you are not tempted to worship and serve those things. The Lord your God lets the other people in the world do those things.
But then we stopped making sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven. And we stopped pouring out drink offerings to her. Since we have stopped doing those things in worship to her, we have had problems. Our people have been killed by swords and hunger.”
Topheth was a place in the Valley of Hinnom’s Son where people killed their children and burned them on an altar to honor the false god Molech. [289] Josiah defiled (ruined) that place so people could not use that place again.
But God turned against them. God finished trying to stop them from worshiping the army \{of false gods\} in the sky. This is what is written in the book of the prophets {\cf2\super [142]} : God says,
But I still brought them to the land I promised to give to them. They saw all the hills and green trees, so they went to all those places to worship. They took their sacrifices and anger offerings {\cf2\super [144]} to all those places. They offered their sacrifices that made a sweet smell and they offered their drink offerings at those places.
Nebuzaradan burned the Lord’s temple. He also burned down the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned down every important building in Jerusalem.
The people stopped following the commands of the Lord their God. They made two gold statues of calves. They made Asherah poles. [209] They worshiped all the stars of heaven and served Baal. [210]
Those men will spread those bones on the ground under the sun, the moon, and the stars. The people of Jerusalem love to worship the sun, the moon, and the stars. No person will gather those bones and bury them again. So, the bones of those people will be like dung thrown on the ground.