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TOPHETH.—A term of uncertain etymology, designating some locality in one of the valleys near Jerusalem, very possibly in the Valley of Hinnom (2Ki_23:10), or near the point of juncture of the three valleys of Jerusalem. It was there that the Jews under Ahab and Manasseh performed the rites of human sacrifice (Jer_7:31-32), offering children to Baal, Molech, and other heathen gods. It was defiled by Josiah as a part of his religious reformation, and so came to be an abominable place where the refuse was destroyed, and thus a synonym of Gehenna (wh. see).
Shailer Mathews.