2 Tawarikh 32:5

32:5 Hezekiah ¹  energetically rebuilt ²  every broken wall. He erected towers and an outer wall, ³  and fortified the terrace of the City of David. ⁴  He made many weapons and shields.

2 Tawarikh 33:6

33:6 He passed his sons through the fire ⁵  in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom and practiced divination, omen reading, and sorcery. 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 and angered him. ⁷ 

[32:5]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Hezekiah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:5]  ² tn Heb “strengthened himself and built.”

[32:5]  ³ tn Heb “and outside the wall another one.”

[32:5]  ⁴ sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.

[33:6]  ⁵ tn Or “he sacrificed his sons in the fire.” This may refer to child sacrifice, though some interpret it as a less drastic cultic practice (NEB, NASV “made his sons pass through the fire”; NIV “sacrificed his sons in the fire”; NRSV “made his sons pass through fire”). For discussion see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 266-67.

[33:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he set up a ritual pit, along with a conjurer.” 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 בַּעֲלַת אוֹב (ba’alat ’ov, “owner of a ritual pit”). See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’OñBù,” JBL 86 (1967): 385-401.

[33:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, angering him.”