Lexicon :: Strong's H1116 - bāmâ

Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places, the goat-demons, and the golden calves he had made.

He removed the pagan altars and the high places. He shattered their sacred pillars and chopped down their Asherah poles.

The high places were not taken away from Israel; nevertheless, Asa was wholeheartedly devoted his entire life.[fn]

He took great pride in the LORD’s ways, and he again removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.

However, the high places were not taken away; the people had not yet set their hearts on the God of their ancestors.

Jehoram also built high places in the hills[fn] of Judah, and he caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, and he led Judah astray.

He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

When all this was completed, all Israel who had attended went out to the cities of Judah and broke up the sacred pillars, chopped down the Asherah poles, and tore down the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, to the last one.[fn] Then all the Israelites returned to their cities, each to his own possession.

Didn’t Hezekiah himself remove his high places and his altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before one altar, and you must burn incense on it”?

He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down and reestablished the altars for the Baals. He made Asherah poles, and he bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served them.

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a youth, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images.

He alone stretches out the heavens

and treads on the waves of the sea.[fn]

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer

and sets me securely on the heights.[fn]

They enraged him with their high places

and provoked his jealousy with their carved images.

“I will ascend above the highest clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.”

Dibon went up to its temple

to weep at its high places.

Moab wails on Nebo and at[fn] Medeba.

Every head is shaved;

every beard is chopped short.

When Moab appears

and tires himself out on the high place

and comes to his sanctuary to pray,

it will do him no good.

“Suppose you say to me, ‘We rely on the LORD our God.’ Isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?

“then you will delight in the LORD,

and I will make you ride over the heights of the land,

and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

“They have built the high places of Topheth[fn] in Ben Hinnom Valley[fn] in order to burn their sons and daughters in the fire, a thing I did not command; I never entertained the thought.

my mountains in the countryside.

I will give up your wealth

and all your treasures as plunder

because of the sin of your high places[fn]

in all your borders.

“They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought.[fn]

“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of King Hezekiah of Judah and said to all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD of Armies says:

Zion will be plowed like a field,

Jerusalem will become ruins,

and the temple’s mountain will be a high thicket.’

“They have built the high places of Baal in Ben Hinnom Valley to sacrifice their sons and daughters in the fire[fn] to Molech ​— ​something I had not commanded them. I had never entertained the thought[fn] that they do this detestable act causing Judah to sin!

“In Moab, I will stop” ​— ​this is the LORD’s declaration ​— ​“the one who offers sacrifices on the high place and burns incense to his gods.

“You are to say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.

“You took some of your clothing and made colorful high places for yourself, and you engaged in prostitution on them. These places should not have been built, and this should never have happened![fn]

“So I asked them, “What is this high place you are going to? ” And it is still called Bamah[fn] today.’

“This is what the Lord GOD says: Because the enemy has said about you, “Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,” ’

He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel and their kings will no longer defile my holy name by their religious prostitution and by the corpses[fn] of their kings at their high places.[fn]

The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,

will be destroyed;

thorns and thistles will grow over their altars.

They will say to the mountains, “Cover us! ”

and to the hills, “Fall on us! ”

He is here:

the one who forms the mountains,

creates the wind,

and reveals his thoughts to man,

the one who makes the dawn out of darkness

and strides on the heights of the earth.

The LORD, the God of Armies, is his name.

“Isaac’s high places will be deserted,

and Israel’s sanctuaries will be in ruins;

I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam

with a sword.”

Look, the LORD is leaving his place

and coming down to trample

the heights[fn] of the earth.

Therefore, because of you,

Zion will be plowed like a field,

Jerusalem will become ruins,

and the temple’s mountain

will be a high thicket.

The LORD my Lord is my strength;

he makes my feet like those of a deer

and enables me to walk on mountain heights!

For the choir director: on[fn] stringed instruments.