For {g} Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the {h} king it is prepared; he hath made it {i} deep and large: the pile of it is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

(g) Here it is taken for hell, where the wicked are tormented, read 2Ki 23:10.

(h) So that their estate or degree cannot exempt the wicked.

(i) By these figurative speeches he declares the condition of he wicked after this life.

Wesley's Notes

30:33 Tophet - This was a place near Jerusalem, in which the idolatrous Israelites used to offer up their children to Moloch. It may be put, for any place of torment; and particularly it is put for hell. For the king - For the king of Assyria. Fire - He alludes to the ancient custom, of burning sacrifices, and particularly of burning children to Moloch. The breath - The immediate hand of God, or his word of anger. Brimstone - He seems to allude to that shower of fire and brimstone, Gen 19:24.

King James Translators' Notes

of old: Heb. from yesterday

Scofield Reference Notes

Margin Tophet

See Jer 7:31 19:6 2Ki 23:10

Historically a place in the valley of Hinnom where human sacrifices were offered. The word means "place of fire." The symbolic reference is to the lake of fire and the doom of the Beast. Rev 19:20.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

33. Tophet-literally, "A place of abomination"; the valley of the sons of Hinnom, southeast of Jerusalem, where Israel offered human sacrifices to Moloch by fire; hence a place of burning (2Ki 23:10; Jer 7:31). Latterly Gehinnom or Gehenna, that is, valley of Hinnom, was the receptacle of the refuse of the city, to consume which fires were constantly burning. Hence it came to express hell, the place of torment. In the former sense it was a fit place to symbolize the funeral pyre of the Assyrian army (not that it actually perished there); the Hebrews did not burn, but buried their dead, but the heathen Assyrians are to be burnt as a mark of ignominy. In the latter sense Tophet is the receptacle "prepared for the devil (antitype to the king, Isa 14:12-15) and his angels," and unbelieving men (Mt 5:22; 25:41; Mr 9:43, 44).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

30:27-33 God curbs and restrains from doing mischief. With a word he guides his people into the right way, but with a bridle he turns his enemies upon their own ruin. Here, in threatening the ruin of Sennacherib's army, the prophet points at the final and everlasting destruction of all impenitent sinners. Tophet was a valley near Jerusalem, where fires were continually burning to destroy things that were hurtful and offensive, and there the idolatrous Jews caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch. This denotes the certainty of the destruction, as an awful emblem of the place of torment in the other world. No oppressor shall escape the Divine wrath. Let sinners then flee to Christ, seeking to be reconciled to Him, that they may be safe and happy, when destruction from the Almighty shall sweep away all the workers of iniquity.