72 Bible Verses about Shrines

And so shall ye learn to know that I am the LORD, when your slain men lie among your gods, and about your altars; upon all high hills and tops of mountains; among all green trees; among all thick oaks; even in the places where they did sacrifice to all their idols.

And they made them images and groves on every high hill and under every green tree.

For they shall be ashamed of the gods that you longed for. And you shall be put to shame for the idols and grove gardens that ye have chosen.

"I have ever broken thy yoke of old, and bursten thy bonds: yet sayest thou, 'I will no more serve.' But like a harlot thou runnest about upon all high hills,

- though he do not all - he eateth upon the hills; he defileth his neighbour's wife;

For after I had brought them into the land that I promised to give them, when they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees: they made there offerings, and provoked me with their oblations, making sweet savours there, and poured out their drink offerings.

The carpenter or image carver taketh meat of the timber, and spreadeth forth his line; he marketh it with some colour; he planeth it, he ruleth it, and squareth it, and maketh it after the image of a man; and according to the beauty of a man that it may stand in the temple.

and fetched out the image out of the house of Baal and burnt it. And they brake the image of Baal, and brake the house of Baal, and made a privy house thereof, unto this day.

Howbeit, every nation made their own gods and put them in the houses of the Hill altars which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities where they dwelt. The men of Babylon made Succothbenoth; The men of Cuth made Nergal; They of Hamath made Ashima; The Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; And the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire unto Adrammelech and Annamelech, the gods of Sepharvites.

Insomuch that the eighth year of his reign, when he was yet a lad, he began to seek after the God of David his father. And in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of hill altars, groves, carved Images, and Images of metal: so that they brake down the altars of Baals even in his presence, and the Idols that were upon them he caused to be destroyed. And the groves, carved Images, and Images of metal he brake and made dust of them, and strawed it upon the graves of them that had offered to them.

For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith which made silver shrines for Diana, was not a little beneficial unto the craftsmen:

And he put down the Chemarims which the kings of Judah had set to burn offerings in the hill altars in the cities of Judah round about Jerusalem and also them that burnt sacrifices unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.

Moreover, I will make Moab cease, sayeth the LORD, from the offerings and censing that she hath made unto her gods in high places.

And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father and bowed not therefrom. But did that was right in the eyes of the LORD. Only he did not put the hill altars out of the way: for the people offered and burnt their sacrifices yet in the hill altars.

But they took not away the hill altars, for the people slew and offered still in the hill altars.

And he offered and burnt the fat in the hill altars and on the hills and under every green tree.

And he offered burnt cense in hill altars and on mountains and under every green tree.

And in all the cities of Judah, city by city, he made hill altars to burn incense unto other gods, and angered the LORD God of his fathers.

Then asked he the men of the same place saying, "Where is the whore that sat at Enaim in the way?" And they said, "There was no whore here." And he came to Judah again, saying, "I cannot find her, and also the men of the place said that there was no whore there."

There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor whorekeeper of the sons of Israel.

And thereto there was a stews of male children in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

And he made the stews of males depart the land, and put away all the idols that his fathers had made.

Thus their soul perisheth in foolishness, and their life shall be condemned among the fornicators.

See that ye destroy all places where the nations which ye conquer serve their gods, upon high mountains and on high hills and under every green tree. Overthrow their altars and break their pillars and burn their groves with fire and hew down the images of their gods, and bring the names of them to nought out of that place.

But overthrow their altars and break their pillars, and cut down their groves, for thou shalt worship no strange god. For the LORD is called jealous, because he is a jealous God:

see that ye drive out all the inhabiters of the land before you, and destroy their imaginations and all their images of metal, and pluck down all their altars built on hills:

But thus ye shall deal with them: overthrow their altars, break down their pillars, cut down their groves and burn their images with fire.

And the same night the LORD said unto him, "Take an ox of thy father's and another of seven years old, and destroy the altar of Baal that belongeth unto thy father, and cut down the grove that is about it,

And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the hill altars where the priests did burn sacrifice, even from Geba to Beersheba. And he brake down the hill altars of the Gates, that were in the entering of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on the left hand of the gate of the city. Nevertheless, the priests of the hill altars came not up at the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, save only they did eat of the sweet bread among their brethren. And he defiled Tophet also, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, because no man should offer his son or his daughter in fire to Moloch.read more.
He put down the horses that the kings of Israel had given to the son at the entering of the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain which was the ruler of the suburbs, and burnt the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars that were on the top of the parlour of Ahaz which the king of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, the king brake down, and ran thence and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. And the hill altars that were before Jerusalem on the righthand of the mount Nashith, which Solomon king of Israel built to Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians and to Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and to Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, the king defiled: and brake the images and cut down the groves and filled the places with the bones of men. Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, the hill altar made by Jeroboam the son of Nebat which made Israel sin - both the altar and also the hill - he brake down and burnt the hill and stamped it to powder, and burnt the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the graves that were in the mount and sent and fetched the bones out of the graves and burnt them upon the altar and polluted it according to the word of the LORD that the man of God had proclaimed, which openly had denounced the same things. Then the king said, "What meaneth yonder grave stone that I see?" And the men of the city told him, "It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah and openly denounced the selfsame things that thou hast done to the altar of Bethel." And he said, "Let him be: see that no man move his bones." And so his bones escaped with the bones of a Prophet that came out of Samaria. And thereto all the houses of the hill altars of the cities of Samaria which the kings of Israel had made, to anger withal, Josiah put out of the way and did to them in all points as he did in Bethel. And he sacrificed all the priests of the hill altars that were there, even upon the altars, and burnt men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.

And as soon as he had made an end of offering of burnt sacrifice, he said to them of the guard and to the lords, "Go in and slay them, let none come out." And they smote them with the edge of the sword. And the guard and the lords cast them out, and went unto the city of the house of Baal,

and took away the altars of strangers and the hill altars, and brake the Images and cut down the groves,

And his heart was courageous in the ways of the LORD, and he put down yet more of the hill altars and groves out of Judah.

He put away the hill altars, and brake the images and cut down the groves, and all to brake the brazen serpent that Moses made - for unto those days the children of Israel did burn sacrifice to it, and called it Nehushtan.

Only the people sacrificed in altars made on hills, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD until those days. And Solomon loved the LORD and walked in the ordinances of David his father, save only that he sacrificed and offered cense upon altars in hills.

Nevertheless, the people did offer still in the hill altars; howbeit unto the LORD their God only.

An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me and thereon offer thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, and thy sheep and thine oxen. And in all places where I shall put the remembrance of my name, thither I will come unto thee and bless thee.

And when Gideon perceived that it was an angel, he said, "Alas my Lord Jehovah, that I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face." And the LORD said unto him, peace be with thee and fear not, for thou shalt not die. Then Gideon made an altar there unto the LORD and called it Jehovah Shalom; The LORD is the Peace. Which unto this day is yet in Ophrah that pertaineth unto the father of the Abiezrites.

And the maidens answered them, "Yea, behold, he goeth before you. Make haste now, for he came this day to the city, for the people must offer this day in the hill. When ye be come into the city, so shall you find him, yer he go up to the hill to eat: for the people will not eat until he come, because he must bless the offering. And then eat they that be bidden to the feast. Now therefore get you up for even now shall ye find him." And they went up into the city. And when they were come into the midst of the city, behold, Samuel came out against them, for to go up to the hill.

After that, thou shalt come to the hill of God, where the Philistines keep their watch. And when thou art come thither to the city thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the hill, with a psaltery, a timbrel, a pipe, and a harp before them; and they prophesying.

Then departed he thence unto a mountain that lieth on the east side of Bethel and pitched his tent - Bethel being on the west side, and Ai on the east - and he built there an altar unto the LORD, and called on the name of the LORD.

And the people came to Bethel and abode there till evening, before God, and lifted up their voices and wept sore,

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel came together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of witness there, and the land was in subjection before them.

Then they said, "Behold, there is a feast of the LORD yearly in Shiloh which is on the north side of Bethel, and on the east side of the way that goeth from Bethel to Shechem and south from Lebanon."

Then all the children of Israel went out: and there gathered a congregation together as it had been but one man, even from Dan to Beersheba and out of the land of Gilead, unto the land to Mizpeh.

And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted the same day, and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the causes of the children of Israel in Mizpeh.

And the king went to Gibeon, to offer there: for that was a great offering place. And there Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings upon that altar. And in Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, "Ask what I shall give thee."

And Zadok the priest with his brethren the priests set he before the tabernacle of the LORD at the hill altar of Gibeon, to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD upon the burnt offering altar perpetually at morning and evening, according to all that is written in the law of the LORD which he commanded Israel.

And so Solomon came from the hill altar that was at Gibeon to Jerusalem from the tabernacle of witness and reigned at Jerusalem.

If ye say unto me, 'We trust in the LORD our God' - Is not that he whose hill altars and other altars too, Hezekiah hath put down, and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem, 'Bow yourselves before this altar here in Jerusalem'?

But if thou wouldest say unto me: 'We trust in the LORD our God': is not he that God whose High places and altars Hezekiah took down, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem to worship only before this altar?

See ye do not so unto the LORD your God; but ye shall enquire the place which the LORD your God shall have chosen out of all your tribes to put his name there and there to dwell. And thither thou shalt come, and thither ye shall bring your burnt sacrifices and your offerings, your tithes and heave offerings of your hands, your vows and free will offerings and thy first born of your oxen and of your sheep.read more.
And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye lay your hands on, both ye and your households, because the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.

And he shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the seat of his kingdom forever:

He shall build me a house, and I will establish his seat forever.

And the man Micah had a chapel of gods, and made an ephod and images, and filled the hand of one of his sons which became his priest.

And the children of Dan set them up the graven image. And Jonathan the son of Gershon, the son of Manasseh and his sons were the priests unto the tribe of the Danites, until they were carried away out of the land captive. And they set them up the carved image which Micah made, all the while that the house of God was in Shiloh.

Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto the people, "Ye shall not need to go any more to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, Israel, which brought you out of the land of Egypt!" And he put the one in Bethel and the other in Dan. And that doing was a cause of sin. And the people went before the one as far as Dan.read more.
And he made houses of hill altars, and made, of the lowest of the people, priests which were not of the sons of Levi.

For the saying which he cried at the bidding of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of hill altars which are in the cities of Samaria, shall come to pass."

And they feared the LORD, yet they made them priests of the lowest of the people, for the Hill altars; which sacrificed for them in the houses of the Hill altars. And so they feared the LORD, and yet served their own gods after the manner of the people from whence they were brought.

And he ordained him priests of hill altars - both to field devils and also to the calves which he had made.

'Ye came to Bethel for to work ungraciousness, and have increased your sins at Gilgal: ye brought your sacrifices in the morning, and your tithes unto the third day.

And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the inferior priests and the keepers of the door, to bring out of the temple of the LORD, all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove and for all the host of heaven. And he burnt them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried the ashes of them into Bethel. And he put down the Chemarims which the kings of Judah had set to burn offerings in the hill altars in the cities of Judah round about Jerusalem and also them that burnt sacrifices unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the grove from the temple of the LORD without Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron, and stamped it to powder, and cast the dust thereof upon the graves of people of the country.read more.
And he brake down the cells of the male whores that were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove little houses for the grove.

And with that he brought me to the door of the port of the LORD's house, toward the north. And behold, there sat women mourning for Tammuz. Then said he unto me, "Hast thou seen this, thou son of man? Turn ye about, and thou shalt see yet greater abominations." And so he brought me into the inward court of the LORD's house. And behold, at the port of the LORD's house, betwixt the fore entry and the altar, there were five and twenty men that turned their backs on the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east, and these worshiped the sun.

For they also made them hill altars and images and groves on every high hill and under every green tree. And thereto there was a stews of male children in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

Then said he unto me, "Thou son of man, hast thou seen what the Senators of the house of Israel do secretly, everyone in his chamber? For they say, 'Tush, the LORD seeth us not, the LORD regardeth not the world.'"

After that, Solomon built an altar for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites in the hill that standeth before Jerusalem, and unto Moloch the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his outlandish wives, which burnt cense and offered unto their gods.

And he did that displeased the LORD, even after the abominations of the Heathen, which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. And he went and built the hill altars again, which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. And he reared up altars to Baal and made groves, as did Ahab king of Israel. And he bowed himself unto all the host of heaven and served them.

They have also builded an altar at Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom: that they might burn their sons and daughters - which I never commanded them, neither came it ever in my thought.

for they have set up an altar unto Baal, to burn their children for a burnt offering unto Baal, which I neither commanded, nor charged them, neither thought once thereupon.

They have builded high places for Baal in the valley of the children of Hinnom, to cause their sons and daughters to pass through fire in honor of Moloch: which I never commanded them, neither came it ever in my thought, to make Judah sin with such abomination.

Yet have ye set up tabernacles to your Moloch, and images of your Idols, yea and the star of your god Rempha: figures which ye made to worship them.

And ye took unto you the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rephan, figures which ye made to worship them. And I will translate you beyond Babylon.'

Thou hast builded thy stews and brothel houses in every place: yea, at the head of every street hast thou builded thee an altar. Thou hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, thou hast laid out thy legs to every one that came by, and multiplied thine whoredom.