Manuscript variant · disputed · Divine Council
What the source reads — the consonants m-l-k — 'melek', king / ruler; the Septuagint reads exactly that: 'give none of your seed to serve a ruler (archonti)'
What this version reads — 'Molech' — a god by that name, the same letters pointed (on the leading view) with the vowels of bosheth, 'shame'; the KJV and Vulgate read a deity, not a king
The letters are those of melek, 'king'. The Septuagint read them plainly — 'do not give your seed to serve a ruler' — no god at all. The Masoretic tradition points the same letters as Molech, a god of child-sacrifice, using (on the leading view) the vowels of bosheth, 'shame'. So a phrase that may have meant 'the king' becomes the name of a demon-god — and scholars still argue whether Molech was ever a deity or an offering misheard as one. Either way the vocalization decided it: 'shame' spelled into the letters of 'king'.
Read this chapter side by side — Leviticus 18:21 →