Milcom or Milkom (Ammonite: 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤌 *Mīlkām; Hebrew: ) was the name of either the national god, or a popular god, of the Ammonites. He is attested in the Hebrew Bible and in archaeological finds from the former territory of Ammon. His connections to other deities with similar names attested in the Bible and archaeologically are debated, as well as his relationship to the Canaanite supreme deity El, or the putative deity Moloch. Attestations Milcom is attested several times in the Hebrew Bible, although these attestations say little about him. In the Masoretic Text, the name Milcom occurs three times, in each case in a list of foreign deities whose worship is offensive to Yahweh, the god of the Israelites. It is mentioned at as "Milcom the detestation of the Ammonites", at as "Milcom the god of the children of Ammon", and at as "Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon". The name occurs several additional times in the Septuagint: 2 Samuel 12:30, 1 Chronicles 20:2, Amos 1:15, Jeremiah 40 (=30):1.3, Zephaniah 1:5, and 1 Kings 11:7. The Masoretic text reads , meaning "their king" in most of these instances. It is likely that the Hebrew text originally read Milcom in at least some of these instances. The Bible attests Milcom as playing the role of the Ammonites' chief state god in parallel to Yahweh's role in Israel. Given that the Bible refers to Milcom having been worshiped by royal sanction in Jerusalem, it is possible that he was also worshiped as a native rather than a foreign god in Israel. Outside the bible, the name Milcom is attested in archaeology, such as on several Ammonite seals, where he is often connected with bull imagery. These seals indicate that Milcom was seen as benevolent, exalted, strong, and has associations with the stars. The Amman Citadel Inscription (c. 9th or 8th century BCE), as it has been reconstructed, contains an oracle from Milcom, while the name is also mentioned on the Tell el-Mazar ostracon. Two Ammonite names are attested containing the name Milcom as an element. However, in Ammonite theophoric names, El, the chief god of the Canaanite pantheon, appears more frequently than Milcom. On this basis, Walter Aufrecht proposes that Milcom was not the state god of the Ammonites and that he may instead have been a patron god of the Ammonite royal house. Stone statues discovered around Ammon may