Do not worship the LORD your God in the way they worship their gods, for in the worship of their gods they do all the disgusting things that the LORD hates. They even sacrifice their children in the fires on their altars.

Do not hand over any of your children to be used in the worship of the god Molech, because that would bring disgrace on the name of God, the LORD.

No man or woman is to have sexual relations with an animal; that perversion makes you ritually unclean.

Their actions made the land unclean, and so the LORD is punishing the land and making it reject the people who lived there.

(SEE 18:26)

You know that whoever does any of these disgusting things will no longer be considered one of God's people.

to say to the people of Israel, "Any of you or any foreigner living among you who gives any children to be used in the worship of the god Molech shall be stoned to death by the whole community.

But if the community ignores what you have done and does not put you to death,

and followed the example of the kings of Israel. He even sacrificed his own son as a burnt offering to idols, imitating the disgusting practice of the people whom the LORD had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced.

They sacrificed their sons and daughters as burnt offerings to pagan gods; they consulted mediums and fortunetellers, and they devoted themselves completely to doing what is wrong in the LORD's sight, and so aroused his anger.

He sacrificed his son as a burnt offering. He practiced divination and magic and consulted fortunetellers and mediums. He sinned greatly against the LORD and stirred up his anger.

burned incense in Hinnom Valley, and even sacrificed his own sons as burnt offerings to idols, imitating the disgusting practice of the people whom the LORD had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced.

They offered their own sons and daughters as sacrifices to the idols of Canaan.

They killed those innocent children, and the land was defiled by those murders.

I am going to do this because the people have abandoned me and defiled this place by offering sacrifices here to other gods---gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known anything about. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people,

So then, the time will come when this place will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom Valley. Instead, it will be known as Slaughter Valley.

They have built altars to Baal in Hinnom Valley, to sacrifice their sons and daughters to the god Molech. I did not command them to do this, and it did not even enter my mind that they would do such a thing and make the people of Judah sin."

"Put to death any woman who practices magic.

"Do not eat any meat with blood still in it. Do not practice any kind of magic.

"Do not go for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead. If you do, you will be ritually unclean. I am the LORD your God.

You shall be holy and belong only to me, because I am the LORD and I am holy. I have set you apart from the other nations so that you would belong to me alone.

"Any man or woman who consults the spirits of the dead shall be stoned to death; any of you that do this are responsible for your own death."

Now Samuel had died, and all the Israelites had mourned for him and had buried him in his hometown of Ramah. Saul had forced all the fortunetellers and mediums to leave Israel.

Then Saul ordered his officials, "Find me a woman who is a medium, and I will go and consult her." "There is one in Endor," they answered.

The woman answered, "Surely you know what King Saul has done, how he forced the fortunetellers and mediums to leave Israel. Why, then, are you trying to trap me and get me killed?"

Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD. He disobeyed the LORD's commands; he tried to find guidance by consulting the spirits of the dead

He sacrificed his sons in Hinnom Valley as burnt offerings. He practiced divination and magic and consulted fortunetellers and mediums. He sinned greatly against the LORD and stirred up his anger.

But people will tell you to ask for messages from fortunetellers and mediums, who chirp and mutter. They will say, "After all, people should ask for messages from the spirits and consult the dead on behalf of the living."

You are to answer them, "Listen to what the LORD is teaching you! Don't listen to mediums---what they tell you cannot keep trouble away."

You are powerless in spite of the advice you get. Let your astrologers come forward and save you--- those people who study the stars, who map out the zones of the heavens and tell you from month to month what is going to happen to you.

Many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in public. They added up the price of the books, and the total came to fifty thousand silver coins.

in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups;