Discovery Box2 Kings 21:6 
Context21:6 He passed his son 1 through the fire 2 and practiced divination and omen reading. He set up a ritual pit to conjure up underworld spirits, and appointed magicians to supervise it. 3 He did a great amount of evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 4
2 Kings 23:24
Context23:24 Josiah also got rid of 5 the ritual pits used to conjure up spirits, 6 the magicians, personal idols, disgusting images, 7 and all the detestable idols that had appeared in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. In this way he carried out the terms of the law 8 recorded on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the Lord’s temple.
1 tc The LXX has the plural “his sons” here.
2 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 16:3.
3 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.
4 tc Heb “and he multiplied doing what is evil in the eyes of the
5 tn Here בִּעֵר (bi’er) is not the well attested verb “burn,” but the less common homonym meaning “devastate, sweep away, remove.” See HALOT 146 s.v. בער.
6 sn See the note at 2 Kgs 21:6.
7 sn See the note at 1 Kgs 15:12.
8 tn Heb “carrying out the words of the law.”
