ʼăshêrâh — H842

Definition

feminine proper noun

Asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddess; also an image of the same

1. Ashera(h) = "groves (for idol worship)"
2. a Babylonian (Astarte)-Canaanite goddess (of fortune and happiness), the supposed consort of Baal, her images
1. the goddess, goddesses
2. her images
3. sacred trees or poles set up near an altar

Usually translated as

grove

Origin

or ʼăshêyrâh; from H833; happy

• Derived from ʼâshar (H833)

Greek equivalents

• déndron (G1186)

Occurrences

ʼăshêrâh occurs 40 times in the King James.

Distribution of the word across the Bible: Exodus (1), Deuteronomy (3), Judges (5), 1 Kings (5), 2 Kings (11), 2 Chronicles (11), Isaiah (2), Jeremiah (1), Micah (1)

• Exodus 34:13 — But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves (אֲשֵׁרָ֖יו):
• Deuteronomy 7:5 — But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves (וַאֲשֵֽׁירֵהֶם֙), and burn their graven images with fire.
• Deuteronomy 12:3 — And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves (וַאֲשֵֽׁרֵיהֶם֙) with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.
• Deuteronomy 16:21 — Thou shalt not plant thee a grove (אֲשֵׁרָ֖ה) of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.
• Judges 3:7 — And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves (הָאֲשֵׁרֽוֹת).
• Judges 6:25 — And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove (הָאֲשֵׁרָ֥ה) that is by it:
• Judges 6:26 — And build an altar unto the LORD thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove (הָאֲשֵׁרָ֖ה) which thou shalt cut down.
• Judges 6:28 — And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove (וְהָאֲשֵׁרָ֥ה) was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.
• Judges 6:30 — Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove (הָאֲשֵׁרָ֥ה) that was by it.
• 1 Kings 14:15 — For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves (אֲשֵׁ֣רֵיהֶ֔ם), provoking the LORD to anger.
• 1 Kings 14:23 — For they also built them high places, and images, and groves (וַאֲשֵׁרִ֑ים), on every high hill, and under every green tree.
• 1 Kings 15:13 — And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove (לָאֲשֵׁרָ֑ה); and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.
• 1 Kings 16:33 — And Ahab made a grove (הָאֲשֵׁרָ֑ה); and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
• 1 Kings 18:19 — Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves (הָֽאֲשֵׁרָה֙) four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.
• 2 Kings 13:6 — Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin, but walked therein: and there remained the grove (הָאֲשֵׁרָ֔ה) also in Samaria.)
• 2 Kings 17:10 — And they set them up images and groves (וַאֲשֵׁרִ֑ים) in every high hill, and under every green tree:
• 2 Kings 17:16 — And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove (אֲשֵׁירָ֗ה), and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
• 2 Kings 18:4 — He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves (הָֽאֲשֵׁרָ֑ה), and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
• 2 Kings 21:3 — For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove (אֲשֵׁרָה֙), as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
• 2 Kings 21:7 — And he set a graven image of the grove (הָאֲשֵׁרָ֖ה) that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever:
• 2 Kings 23:4 — And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove (וְלָֽאֲשֵׁרָ֔ה), and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Beth-el.
• 2 Kings 23:6 — And he brought out the grove (הָאֲשֵׁרָה֩) from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.
• 2 Kings 23:7 — And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove (לָאֲשֵׁרָֽה).
• 2 Kings 23:14 — And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves (הָאֲשֵׁרִ֑ים), and filled their places with the bones of men.
• 2 Kings 23:15 — Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove (אֲשֵׁרָֽה).
• 2 Chronicles 14:3 — For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves (הָאֲשֵׁרִֽים):
• 2 Chronicles 15:16 — And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove (לַאֲשֵׁרָ֖ה): and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
• 2 Chronicles 17:6 — And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD: moreover he took away the high places and groves (הָאֲשֵׁרִ֖ים) out of Judah.
• 2 Chronicles 19:3 — Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves (הָאֲשֵׁרוֹת֙) out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.
• 2 Chronicles 24:18 — And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves (הָאֲשֵׁרִ֖ים) and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.
• 2 Chronicles 31:1 — Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves (הָאֲשֵׁרִ֡ים), and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
• 2 Chronicles 33:3 — For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves (אֲשֵׁר֔וֹת), and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
• 2 Chronicles 33:19 — His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves (הָאֲשֵׁרִ֣ים) and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.
• 2 Chronicles 34:3 — For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves (וְהָ֣אֲשֵׁרִ֔ים), and the carved images, and the molten images.
• 2 Chronicles 34:4 — And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves (וְ֠הָאֲשֵׁרִים), and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
• 2 Chronicles 34:7 — And when he had broken down the altars and the groves (הָאֲשֵׁרִ֤ים), and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.
• Isaiah 17:8 — And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves (וְהָאֲשֵׁרִ֖ים), or the images.
• Isaiah 27:9 — By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves (אֲשֵׁרִ֖ים) and images shall not stand up.
• Jeremiah 17:2 — Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves (וַאֲשֵׁרֵיהֶ֖ם) by the green trees upon the high hills.
• Micah 5:14 — And I will pluck up thy groves (אֲשֵׁירֶ֖יךָ) out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.