| II Kings 21:6
| And he made his son pass through fire: and he used divinations, and observed omens, and appointed pythons, and multiplied soothsayers, to do evil before the Lord, and to provoke him.
| Fire, for purification, or as a holocaust to Moloch. See 4 Kings 16:3. --- Divination, or, "he observed times," Arabic. (Montanus) --- Omens. Protestants, "used enchantments," (Haydock) by means of brass or of serpents, etc. (Calmet) --- Septuagint agrees with the Vulgate, "he took notice of birds." (Haydock) --- Pythons. That is, diviners by spirits (Challoner) particularly by Apollo. He authorized and encouraged such ventriloquists, etc., Leviticus 19:31. --- Soothsayers, who inspected the entrails of victims, to foretell future things. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "He dealt with familiar spirits and wizards." (Haydock)
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