Jeremiah 19:5

5 and builded high things to Baalim, to burn their sons in fire, into burnt sacrifice to Baalim (and built the high places, or the hill shrines, to Baal, to burn their children in the fire, for burnt sacrifices to Baal); which things I commanded not, neither spake, neither those (things) ascended into mine heart.

Jeremiah 19:5 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 19:5

They have also built the high places of Baal
Or, they have even built and so the words explain what is before suggested of their idolatry; these were the temples in which they placed his image, and the altars on which they sacrificed to him; as follows: to burn their sons with fire, [for] burnt offerings unto Baal;
the same idol that is sometimes called Moloch, the names being much of the same signification; the one signifying a "lord" or "master"; the other a king; and to the idol under each name they burned their children with fire, and offered them as burnt offerings unto it; which was a most cruel and barbarous way of sacrificing. Some think they only caused them to pass through two fires; but the text is express for it, that they burnt them with fire, and made burnt offerings of them, as they did with slain beasts. It seems very likely that they did both: which I commanded not;
in my law, as the Targum adds; and which was intimation enough to avoid it; though this was not all, he expressly forbad it, ( Leviticus 20:2-5 ) ; nor spake [it], neither came [it] into my mind;
and it is marvellous it should ever enter into the heart of man; none but Satan himself could ever have devised such a way of worship.

Jeremiah 19:5 In-Context

3 and thou shalt say, Kings of Judah, and the dwellers of Jerusalem, hear ye the word of the Lord. The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in torment on this place, so that each man that heareth it, his ears tingle. (and thou shalt say, Kings of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, hear ye the word of the Lord. The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in torment upon this place, so that each person who heareth about it, their ears shall tingle.)

4 For they have forsaken me, and made alien this place, and offered sacrifices to alien gods therein, which they, and the fathers of them, and the kings of Judah, knew not; and they filled this place with the blood of innocents, (For they have deserted me, and made this place strange, or foreign, to me, and offered sacrifices to strange, or foreign, gods there, which they, and their forefathers, and the kings of Judah, did not know; and they filled this place with the blood of innocents,)

5 and builded high things to Baalim, to burn their sons in fire, into burnt sacrifice to Baalim (and built the high places, or the hill shrines, to Baal, to burn their children in the fire, for burnt sacrifices to Baal); which things I commanded not, neither spake, neither those (things) ascended into mine heart.

6 Therefore the Lord saith, Lo! days shall come, and this place shall no more be called Tophet, and the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaying. (And so the Lord saith, Lo! days shall come, and this place shall no longer be called Tophet, and the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.)

7 And I shall destroy the counsel of Judah and of Jerusalem in this place, and I shall destroy them by sword, in the sight of their enemies, and in the hand of men seeking the lives of them; and I shall give their dead bodies to be meat to the birds of the air, and to [the] beasts of (the) earth. (And I shall destroy the plans of Judah and of Jerusalem in this place, and I shall destroy them by the sword, before their enemies, and by the hands, or the power, of those who seek their lives; and I shall give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth.)