'High Places' in the Bible

I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you.

Then it came about in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal, and he saw from there a portion of the people.

then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places;

“He made him ride on the high places of the earth,And he ate the produce of the field;And He made him suck honey from the rock,And oil from the flinty rock,

“Blessed are you, O Israel;Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord,Who is the shield of your helpAnd the sword of your majesty!So your enemies will cringe before you,And you will tread upon their high places.”

“Zebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death,And Naphtali also, on the high places of the field.

“Your beauty, O Israel, is slain on your high places!How have the mighty fallen!

“How have the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!Jonathan is slain on your high places.

“He makes my feet like hinds’ feet,And sets me on my high places.

The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.

Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

And he made houses on high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

Jeroboam instituted a feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar; thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made. And he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

He cried against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’”

For the thing shall surely come to pass which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria.”

After this event Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again he made priests of the high places from among all the people; any who would, he ordained, to be priests of the high places.

For they also built for themselves high places and sacred pillars and Asherim on every high hill and beneath every luxuriant tree.

But the high places were not taken away; nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly devoted to the Lord all his days.

He walked in all the way of Asa his father; he did not turn aside from it, doing right in the sight of the Lord. However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places.

Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord.

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

The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the Lord their God. Moreover, they built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.

and there they burned incense on all the high places as the nations did which the Lord had carried away to exile before them; and they did evil things provoking the Lord.

But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.

They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who acted for them in the houses of the high places.

He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.

But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?

For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

He did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the surrounding area of Jerusalem, also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the constellations and to all the host of heaven.

Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one’s left at the city gate.

Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

The high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the right of the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled.

Josiah also removed all the houses of the high places which were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made provoking the Lord; and he did to them just as he had done in Bethel.

All the priests of the high places who were there he slaughtered on the altars and burned human bones on them; then he returned to Jerusalem.

He set up priests of his own for the high places, for the satyrs and for the calves which he had made.

for he removed the foreign altars and high places, tore down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherim,

He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was undisturbed under him.

But the high places were not removed from Israel; nevertheless Asa’s heart was blameless all his days.

He took great pride in the ways of the Lord and again removed the high places and the Asherim from Judah.

The high places, however, were not removed; the people had not yet directed their hearts to the God of their fathers.

Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot and led Judah astray.

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

In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers, to anger.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the Asherim and pulled down the high places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, as well as in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the sons of Israel returned to their cities, each to his possession.

Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, “You shall worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn incense”?

For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he also erected altars for the Baals and made Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, although only to the Lord their God.

His prayer also and how God was entreated by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of the Hozai.

For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images.

He makes my feet like hinds’ feet,And sets me upon my high places.

For they provoked Him with their high placesAnd aroused His jealousy with their graven images.

She sits at the doorway of her house,On a seat by the high places of the city,

They have gone up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep.Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba;Everyone’s head is bald and every beard is cut off.

But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?

They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.

O mountain of Mine in the countryside,I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty,Your high places for sin throughout your borders.

and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind;

“Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus the Lord of hosts has said,“Zion will be plowed as a field,And Jerusalem will become ruins,And the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.”’

They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

and say, ‘Mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, the hills, the ravines and the valleys: “Behold, I Myself am going to bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places.

In all your dwellings, cities will become waste and the high places will be desolate, that your altars may become waste and desolate, your idols may be broken and brought to an end, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out.

You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen.

I will also give you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, strip you of your clothing, take away your jewels, and will leave you naked and bare.

Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed;Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars;Then they will say to the mountains,“Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the windAnd declares to man what are His thoughts,He who makes dawn into darknessAnd treads on the high places of the earth,The Lord God of hosts is His name.

“The high places of Isaac will be desolatedAnd the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste.Then I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

For behold, the Lord is coming forth from His place.He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

Therefore, on account of youZion will be plowed as a field,Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,And the mountain of the temple will become high places of a forest.

The Lord God is my strength,And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,And makes me walk on my high places.For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.