Bible Dictionary
SACRIFICE, HUMAN
Human sacrifice is the killing and offering of people, especially children, as an act of pagan worship. Scripture consistently condemns this practice as a grave form of idolatry and records its prohibition and judgment among Israel and the surrounding nations.
Biblical Usage
The Mosaic law forbids the practice. Scripture records that Israelites adopted it from their Canaanite neighbors and associates it especially with Molech and Baal. The biblical writers condemn it as a supreme form of religious apostasy and a cause of national disaster.