72 Bible Verses about Shrines

"You'll learn that I am the LORD, when the fatally wounded will be among their idols, around their altars, on every hill, on top of the mountains, under every luxuriant tree, and under all the full-grown foliage every place where they've offered fragrant aromas to all their idols.

They set up pillars and Asherim on every high hill and in the shade of every green tree,

They'll be ashamed of the oak trees that you desired; and you'll blush because of the gardens that you have chosen.

"For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds, But you said, "I won't serve you!' Instead, on every high hill and under every green tree, you bend down to commit fornication.

even though the father hasn't done any of these things. The son who eats at mountain shrines, defiles his neighbor's wife,

I brought them to the land that I had promised to give them. But whenever they saw any high hill and or any leafy tree, they slaughtered their sacrifices there and presented their offerings that provoked my anger. There they presented their pleasing aromas and poured out their drink offering.

The carpenter measures it with a line; he traces its shape with a stylus, then fashions it with planes and shapes it with a compass. He makes the idol like a human figure, with human beauty, to be at home in a shrine.

from which they brought out the sacred pillars and burned them. They also cut down the pillar to Baal, tore apart Baal's temple, and turned it into a latrine and it remains that way today.

Nevertheless, each nation continued to craft their own gods and install them in the temples on the high places that the people of Samaria had constructed every nation in their own cities where they continued to live. Settlers from Babylon built Succoth-benoth, settlers from Cuth built Nergal, settlers from Hamath built Ashima, and settlers from Avva built Nibhaz and Tartak. The residents of Sephar-vaim burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sephar-vaim.

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David. In the twelfth year of his reign, he began to remove the high places, Asherim, carved images, and cast images from Judah and Jerusalem. They tore down the altars of Baals in his presence. He chopped down the incense altars that stood high above them. He broke into pieces the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast images, ground them to dust, and scattered the residue on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

By making silver shrines of Artemis, a silversmith named Demetrius provided a large income for skilled workers.

The king unseated the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places throughout the cities of Judah and in the environs surrounding Jerusalem, including those who had been burning incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to every star in the heavens.

In Moab," declares the LORD, "I'll put an end to the one who offers a burnt offering on the high place and to the one who burns incense to his gods.

He lived like his father Asa and never abandoned that life. He did what the LORD considered to be right. Nevertheless, the high places were not demolished, and the people continued to sacrifice and burn incense on the high places.

except that the high places were not demolished, so the people continued to sacrifice and burn incense on the high places.

Furthermore, Ahaz sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on top of hills, and under every green tree.

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

and established high places in every city of Judah where incense was burned to other gods, thus provoking the LORD God of his ancestors to anger.

He asked the men who lived in that area, "Where's that temple prostitute who was sitting alongside the road at Enaim?" But they replied, "There's been no temple prostitute here." So he returned to Judah and said, "I haven't found her. Also, the men who are from there said, "There's been no prostitute here.'"

"There are to be no cultic prostitutes among the daughters or the sons of Israel.

They even maintained male shrine prostitutes throughout the land, and imitated every detestable practice that the nations practiced whom the LORD had expelled in front of the Israelis.

He also removed the male cult prostitutes from the land and destroyed all the idols that his ancestors had made.

They die in their youth; and their life will end among temple prostitutes.

Be sure you destroy there all the places where the nations that you're going to dispossess serve their gods upon the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. Tear down their altars, cut down their sacred poles, and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods to erase their memory from that place."

Rather, you are to tear down their altars, you are to smash their sacred pillars, and you are to cut down their sacred poles indeed, you are not to bow down in worship to any other god, because the LORD's name is Jealous he's a jealous God

they are to drive out all the inhabitants of the land and destroy all their idols and their molten images. You are to demolish all their high places,

This is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, break their pillars, cut down their ritual pillars, and burn their carved idols in fire,

Later that very night, the LORD told Gideon, "Take the bull that belongs to your father, along with a second bull that's seven years old. Then tear down the altar to Baal that your father owns, cut down the Asherah that's beside it,

Then he gathered together all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He also demolished the high places of the gates that had been erected to the left as one enters the city gate that is, near the entrance operated by Joshua, the governor of the city. Nevertheless, the priests of the high places did not approach the LORD's altar in Jerusalem, but instead they ate unleavened bread given to them by their relatives. He also defiled Topheth, which is located in the Ben-hinnom Valley, so that no one would force his son or daughter to pass through the fire in dedication to Molech. read more.
He abolished the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the LORD's Temple, near the offices of Nathan-melech, the official, that were in the precincts. He also set fire to the chariots of the sun. The king demolished the rooftop altars on top of Ahaz's upper chamber that the kings of Judah had erected, as well as the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the LORD's Temple. He pulverized them where they stood and cast their dust into the Kidron Brook. The king defiled the high places which faced Jerusalem on the south side of Corruption Mountain, which King Solomon of Israel had constructed for Ashtoreth, the Sidonian abomination, for Chemosh, the Moabite abomination, and for Milcom, the Ammonite abomination. He broke the pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherim, and filled their locations with human bones. Furthermore, he even broke down the altar that had been at Bethel as well as the high place constructed by Nebat's son Jeroboam, who had caused Israel to sin. He demolished its stones, pulverized them to dust, and burned the Asherah. As Josiah turned around, he observed the graves located there on the mountain, so he sent for and recovered the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar to defile it, in keeping with the message from the LORD that the godly man had proclaimed when he was declaring these things. He asked, "What is this monument that I'm looking at?" The men who lived in that city answered him, "It's the grave of that godly man who came from Judah and predicted these things that you've done against the altar at Bethel!" Josiah replied, "Leave him alone. No one is to disturb his bones." So they preserved his bones undisturbed, along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria. Josiah also removed all of the temples on the high places that had been in the cities of Samaria and that the kings of Israel had erected, thereby provoking the LORD. He treated Samaria just as he had Bethel. After he had slaughtered all the priests who served at the high places and burned their bones on those high places, he returned to Jerusalem.

As soon as he had completed the burnt offering, Jehu ordered the guards and the officers, "Go in and execute them. Don't let even one man escape." So they executed them with swords, and the guards and the officers threw the bodies out and proceeded into the inner room of Baal's temple,

by removing the foreign altars and high places, tearing down the sacred pillars, cutting down the Asherim, and

He remained committed to following the LORD, and he removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.

He removed the high places, demolished the sacred pillars, and tore down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had crafted, because the Israelis had been burning incense to it right up until that time. Hezekiah called it a piece of brass.

The people were sacrificing at various high places because the Temple had not yet been built and dedicated to the LORD. Solomon loved the LORD, and lived according to the statutes that his father David obeyed, except that he sacrificed and burned offerings at the high places.

Even so, the people continued to sacrifice in the high places, but only to the LORD their God.

You are to make an altar of earth for me, and you are to sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep, and your cattle. Everywhere I cause my name to be remembered, I'll come to you and bless you.

When Gideon realized that he had seen the angel of the LORD himself, he cried out, "Oh no! Lord GOD! I've been looking right at the angel of the LORD and face-to-face at that!" "Calm down! Don't be afraid." the LORD replied. "You're not going to die!" So Gideon built an altar right there to the LORD and called it "The LORD is peace." (To this very day it still stands in Ophrah, which belongs to the descendants of Abiezer.)

They answered them: "Yes, he's right there ahead of you. Hurry, for he came to town just today because there is a sacrifice for the people on the high place today. When you come into town you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people don't eat until he arrives, because he must bless the sacrifice and then after that those who are invited will eat. So go up right now because you can find him now." They went up to the town, and as they were coming to the center of the town, Samuel was coming out to meet them, on his way up to the high place.

"After that you will come to Gibeath-elohim where the Philistine garrison is. As you arrive there at the town, you'll meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre being played in front of them, and they'll be prophesying.

From there Abram traveled on to the hill country east of Bethel and set up his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

So the people went to Bethel, sat before God until dusk, where they cried out loud and wept bitterly.

After this, the entire assembly of the Israelis gathered together at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there, where the land lay conquered before them.

So they concluded, "Look, there's a festival to the LORD every year in Shiloh on the north side of Bethel, south of Lebonah and on the east side of the highway that runs from Bethel to Shechem""

Then the entire Israeli nation from Dan to Beer-sheba, including the territory of Gilead came out for war. The army assembled as one united force to God at Mizpah.

So they came together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out in the LORD's presence.

The king used to go to Gibeon to sacrifice, since there was a famous high place there, where Solomon once offered 1,000 burnt offerings on that altar. The LORD appeared to Solomon one night in a dream and told him, "Ask me for whatever you want and I'll give it to you."

He left Zadok the priest and his relatives at the Tent of the LORD at the high place in Gibeon, where they ministered in the LORD's presence, sacrificing the regular burnt offerings regularly each morning and evening to the LORD on the altar dedicated to that purpose, doing everything written in the Law of the LORD, just as he had commanded Israel.

So Solomon returned from the Tent of Meeting at the high place in Gibeon to Jerusalem, where he reigned over Israel.

""Of course, you might tell me, "We rely on the LORD our God!" But isn't it he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has demolished, all the while telling Jerusalem, "You're to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem?"'

But if you all say to me, "We are depending on the LORD our God" - isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, while he kept on telling Judah and Jerusalem, "You are to worship in front of this altar in Jerusalem'?

"You must not act like this with respect to the LORD your God. Instead, you must seek to enter only the place that the LORD your God will choose among your tribes. There he will establish his name and live. Bring your burnt offerings there, along with your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, your offerings in fulfillment of promises, your freely given offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. read more.
Then you and your household will eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with all the works of your hand with which he blessed you.

He will build a Temple dedicated to my Name, and I will make the throne of his kingdom last forever.

He will build a temple dedicated to me, and I will make his throne last forever.

This man Micah had his own shrine, had crafted his own ephod and some household idols, and had installed one of his sons as a priest.

The descendants of Dan set up the carved image, and Gershom's son Jonathan, a descendant of Manasseh, served along with his descendants as priests to the tribe of Dan until the land was taken captive. Micah's carved image, that he himself had crafted, was in place during the entire time that God's tent was set up at Shiloh.

So the king sought some advice and then built two golden calves and announced, "It's too difficult for you to travel to Jerusalem. So here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!" He set one of them in Bethel and placed the other one in Dan. Doing this was sinful, because the people traveled as far as Dan to appear before one of their idols. read more.
Jeroboam built temples on the high places, and appointed his own priests from the fringe elements of the people who were not descendants of Levi.

because what he predicted by a message from the LORD against the altar in Bethel and the temples built in the high places of the cities of Samaria will certainly come about."

Because they feared the LORD, they also appointed from among themselves priests for the high places who acted on their behalf in the temples on the high places. While they continued to fear the LORD, they served their own gods, following the custom of the nations whom they had carried away from there.

Jeroboam had appointed his own priests to serve at the high places and to serve the satyrs and calves that he had made.

"Come to Bethel and sin, to Gilgal and sin even more! Bring along your morning sacrifices, and pay your tithes every other day.

The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the secondary order, and the doorkeepers to take out of the LORD's Temple all of the implements that had been crafted for Baal, for Asherah, and for every star in the heavens. Then he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried the ashes to Bethel. The king unseated the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places throughout the cities of Judah and in the environs surrounding Jerusalem, including those who had been burning incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to every star in the heavens. He brought the Asherah from the LORD's Temple to the Kidron Brook outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Kidron brook, pulverized the ashes to dust, and scattered it over the graves of the common people.read more.
He also demolished the temples of the cultic male prostitutes that had been operating in the LORD's Temple, where the women had been doing weaving for the Asherah.

Then he brought me to the entrance of the gate to the LORD's Temple, which faced the north. That's where I saw women seated, weeping for Tammuz. Then he asked me, "Do you see this, Son of Man? You're about to see even more detestable practices than these." Then he brought me to the inner court of the LORD's Temple. There, at the entrance to the LORD's Temple, between the porch and the altar, were 25 men, with their backs toward the LORD's Temple and facing the east, prostrating themselves to the sun.

They erected high places, sacred pillars, and Asherim for themselves on every high hill and under every green tree. They even maintained male shrine prostitutes throughout the land, and imitated every detestable practice that the nations practiced whom the LORD had expelled in front of the Israelis.

the Spirit asked me, "Do you see, Son of Man, what the elders of Israel's house are doing in secret, each in the chamber of his own carved idol? They keep saying, "God doesn't see us. The LORD has abandoned the land.'"

Later, Solomon even constructed a high place on the mountain east of Jerusalem that was dedicated to Chemosh, that detestable Moabite idol, and to Molech, the detestable Ammonite idol. Solomon did this for all of his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their own gods.

He did what the LORD considered to be evil, following the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD had expelled in full view of the people of Israel. He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal, crafted an Asherah, just as King Ahab of Israel had done, and worshipped and served the stars of heaven.

They have built high places at Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire. I didn't command this, and it never entered my mind!

They built the high places for Baal to burn their children in the fire as a burnt offering to Baal something I didn't command, didn't say, nor did it ever enter my mind!

They built the high places of Baal that are in the Hinnom Valley in order to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech something that I didn't command, nor did it ever enter my mind for them to require this utterly repugnant thing and lead Judah into sin."

And you carried the tent of your king and Saturn, your star god idols that you crafted for yourselves.

You even took along the tent of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, and the images you made in order to worship them. So I will take you into exile as far as Babylon.'

"You built raised mounds and high places for yourself on every plaza. At every street corner you made your beauty abhorrent when you made yourself available for sex to anyone who was passing by. By doing this, you kept on committing more and more immorality.