They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:

JEREMIAH 19:5KJV
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Jeremiah 19:5 (KJV)

What does Jeremiah 19:5 mean?

Jeremiah 19:5 describes how the people of Judah built special worship sites for Baal and even burned their own sons as sacrifices, something God never commanded or even imagined. The verse strongly condemns these actions as completely outside anything God ever wanted.

In this passage, God is speaking through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Judah. The setting is a warning about the terrible consequences of turning away from God and adopting the cruel practices of surrounding nations. The verse highlights how shocking and offensive these sacrifices were, stressing that such acts were never part of God’s instructions or desires for His people.

The Hebrew behind Jeremiah 19:5

  • "built" (בָּנָה, banah): This word means to construct or establish, emphasizing that these high places were intentionally set up for idol worship, not accidental or inherited.
  • "places" (בָּמָה, bamah): Refers to elevated sites used for religious rituals, often associated with pagan worship. The use of this word shows these were not ordinary altars but specifically linked to forbidden practices.
  • "burn" (שָׂרַף, saraph): Means to completely consume with fire, stressing the total destruction involved in these sacrifices.
  • "commanded" (צָוָה, tsavah): Indicates a direct order or instruction. God is making it clear that He never gave any command for such sacrifices, highlighting the complete disconnect between these acts and His will.

Why Jeremiah 19:5 matters

  • Jeremiah 19:5 clears up any idea that God ever wanted or accepted child sacrifice; the verse insists this was never His command or intention.
  • The verse reveals how deeply the people had adopted foreign religious practices, going far beyond what God had ever permitted.
  • In the wider context, this verse helps explain why such severe judgment was coming upon Judah, showing the seriousness of their departure from God’s ways.

Where else these words appear

“Baal” Hebrew H1168 · used in 68 verses

  • Judges 2:11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:
  • 1 Kings 19:18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
  • 2 Chronicles 17:3 And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim;

“places” Hebrew H1116 · used in 92 verses

  • Leviticus 26:30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
  • 2 Kings 15:35 Howbeit the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burned incense still in the high places. He built the higher gate of the house of the LORD.
  • 2 Chronicles 32:12 Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it?

“burn” Hebrew H8313 · used in 107 verses

  • Genesis 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
  • Joshua 7:15 And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.
  • Nehemiah 4:2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?