Baal in the Bible

Meaning: master; lord

Exact Match

The priests did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh?' and those who handle the law did not know me, and the shepherds have {rebelled against me}, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they went after [things which] do not profit.

Verse ConceptsBaal Worship, HistoryPriests, Function In Ot TimesInadequate ShepherdingStudying The LawWhere Is God?Prophets Of Other Gods

"How can you say, 'I have not made myself unclean. I have not paid allegiance to the gods called Baal.' Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! Think about the things you have done there! You are like a flighty, young female camel that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path.

Verse ConceptsPeople Being Unclean

But the Baal has taken all the work of our fathers from our earliest days; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

Will you steal? Will you murder? And will you commit adultery? And will you swear {falsely}? And will you make a smoke offering to the Baal? And will you go after other gods whom you have not known?

Verse ConceptsAdulterersBaal Worship, HistoryBaal Worship, Nature OfUnknown GodsSwearing Oaths FalselyDifferent GodsAvoid AdulteryDo Not StealJudged As MurderersThose Who Committed Adulteryadultry

Instead they have followed the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts. They have paid allegiance to the gods called Baal, as their fathers taught them to do.

Verse ConceptsBad ParentsChildren, needs ofChildren, Bad Parental ExamplesHardness Of HeartSuperstitionMisteachingFollowers Of Baalimagination

For the number of your towns are your gods, Judah, and the number of the streets of Jerusalem [are the] altars you have set up to the shameful things, to make smoke offerings to Baal.

Verse ConceptsBaal Worship, HistoryAltars, PaganIncense Offered AmissMany Spiritual Beings

And Yahweh of hosts, the [one who] planted you, has spoken evil against you, because of the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, that they have done to themselves, to provoke me to anger by making smoke offerings to Baal."

Verse ConceptsMetaphorical PlantingGod Will Bring Harm

{And then}, if they diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, '{as Yahweh lives},' even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will live in the midst of my people.

Verse ConceptsOaths, HumanFollowers Of BaalSwearing BySwearing

and they have built the high places of Baal, to burn their children in the fire, burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, and I ordered not, and it did not come to my {mind}.

Verse ConceptsAbsence Of ThoughtSanctity Of LifeShrinesBaal Worship, Nature OfChild sacrificeSacrificeKids

who plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell each one to his neighbor, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal?

Verse ConceptsMisleading Dreams

And the Chaldeans, who are fighting against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and they will burn it, and the houses where they have made smoke offerings on their roofs to Baal, and [where] they have devoted libations to other gods, in order to provoke me to anger.

Verse Conceptsdrink offeringAnger Of God, ConsequencesRoofRooftopBurning JerusalemIncense Offered AmissDifferent Gods

And they built the high places of Baal that [are] in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to present as offerings their sons and their daughters to Molech, which I had not commanded them, and it had not come to my {mind} to do this detestable thing in order to cause Judah to sin."

Verse ConceptsAbominationsFalse GodsChild sacrificeHigh PlacesAbsence Of ThoughtShrinesValleys

Thematic Bible



He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done; he also worshiped the whole heavenly host and served them.

Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king; he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, granddaughter of Omri. He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother gave him evil advice. So he did what was evil in the Lord's sight like the house of Ahab, for they were his advisers after the death of his father, to his destruction.

For the sons of that wicked Athaliah broke into the Lord’s temple and even used the sacred things of the Lord’s temple for the Baals.”

for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made cast images of the Baals.

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 worshiped the whole heavenly host and served them.


They abandoned all the commands of the Lord their God. They made cast images for themselves, two calves, and an Asherah pole. They worshiped the whole heavenly host and served Baal.

Among the prophets of Samaria
I saw something disgusting:
They prophesied by Baal
and led My people Israel astray.

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
he was exalted in Israel.
But he incurred guilt through Baal and died.


Then, as if following the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat were a trivial matter, he married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and then proceeded to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

He replied, “I have not destroyed Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have abandoned the Lord’s commands and followed the Baals.

But I will leave 7,000 in Israel—every knee that has not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”


Samuel told them, "If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, get rid of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths that are among you, dedicate yourselves to the Lord, and worship only Him. Then He will rescue you from the hand of the Philistines." So the Israelites removed the Baals and the Ashtoreths and only worshiped the Lord.

That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works He had done for Israel. The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight. They worshiped the Baals and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They infuriated the Lord, read more.
for they abandoned Him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths. The Lord's anger burned against Israel, and He handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold them to the enemies around them, so that they could no longer resist their enemies. Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against them and brought disaster [on them], just as He had promised and sworn to them. So they suffered greatly. The Lord raised up judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders, but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the Lord's commands. They did not do as their fathers did. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. The Lord was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them. Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly than their fathers, going after other gods to worship and bow down to them. They did not turn from their [evil] practices or their obstinate ways. The Lord's anger burned against Israel, and He declared, "Because this nation has violated My covenant that I made with their fathers and disobeyed Me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. [I did this] to test Israel and to see whether they would keep the Lord's way by walking in it, as their fathers had." The Lord left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua.


How can you protest, “I am not defiled;
I have not followed the Baals”?
Look at your behavior in the valley;
acknowledge what you have done.
You are a swift young camel
twisting and turning on her way,

The priests quit asking, “Where is the Lord?”
The experts in the law no longer knew Me,
and the rulers rebelled against Me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal
and followed useless idols.

“Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?


Abdon was his firstborn son, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Nadab,

Abdon was his firstborn son, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab,


Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him a lot. Now, therefore, summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. None must be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing will not live." However, Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the servants of Baal. Jehu commanded, "Consecrate a solemn assembly for Baal." So they called one. read more.
Then Jehu sent [messengers] throughout all Israel, and all the servants of Baal came; there was not a man left who did not come. They entered the temple of Baal, and it was filled from one end to the other. Then he said to the custodian of the wardrobe, "Bring out the garments for all the servants of Baal." So he brought out their garments. Then Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rechab entered the temple of Baal, and Jehu said to the servants of Baal, "Look carefully to see that there are no servants of the Lord here among you-only servants of Baal." Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed 80 men outside, and he warned [them], "Whoever allows any of the men I am delivering into your hands to escape [will forfeit] his life for theirs." When he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and officers, "Go in and kill them. Don't let anyone out." So they struck them down with the sword. Then the guards and officers threw [the bodies] out and went into the inner room of the temple of Baal.


On that very night the Lord said to him, "Take your father's young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this rock. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down." So Gideon took 10 of his male servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father's household and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night. read more.
When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal's altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built. They said to each other, "Who did this?" After they made a thorough investigation, they said, "Gideon son of Joash did it." Then the men of the city said to Joash, "Bring out your son. He must die, because he tore down Baal's altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it." But Joash said to all who stood against him, "Would you plead Baal's case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case, because someone tore down his altar." That day, Gideon's father called him Jerubbaal, saying, "Let Baal plead his case with him," because he tore down his altar.


Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Lord's temple all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and the whole heavenly host. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel Then he did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places in the cities of Judah and in the areas surrounding Jerusalem. They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations, and the whole heavenly host.


Then Elijah ordered them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let even one of them escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Wadi Kishon and slaughtered them there.


So all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They broke its altars and images into pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, at the altars.

Then Jehoiada the priest appointed guards for the Lord’s temple.


and all their surrounding villages as far as Baal. These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record for themselves.


and all the villages surrounding these cities as far as Baalath-beer (Ramah of the south).

This was the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon’s descendants by their clans.


He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, but not like his father and mother, for he removed the sacred pillar of Baal his father had made.


his son Micah, his son Reaiah,
his son Baal,


In the morning, Balak took Balaam and brought him to Bamoth-baal. From there he saw the outskirts of the people’s camp.


On that very night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight. They worshiped the Baals and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They infuriated the Lord, for they abandoned Him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.


Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.