Groves

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Translated in R. V. as "Asherod," "Ashera," and "Asherim."

They were symbols of the Phoenician goddess, Asherah)

See Ashtoreth

Forbidden to be established

• Deuteronomy 16:21 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build for the LORD your God,
• Isaiah 1:29 Surely you will be ashamed of the sacred oaks in which you have delighted; you will be embarrassed by the gardens that you have chosen.
• Isaiah 17:8 They will not look to the altars they have fashioned with their hands or to the Asherahs and incense altars they have made with their fingers.
• Isaiah 27:9 Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
• Micah 5:14 I will root out the Asherah poles from your midst and demolish your cities.

Worshiped by Israelites

• Judges 3:7 So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
• 1 Kings 14:15 For the LORD will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that He gave their fathers, and He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger.
• 1 Kings 14:23 They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
• 1 Kings 15:13 He also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
• 1 Kings 18:19 Now summon all Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
• 2 Kings 13:6 Nevertheless, they did not turn away from the sins that the house of Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, but they continued to walk in them. The Asherah pole even remained standing in Samaria.
• 2 Kings 17:10 They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.
• 2 Kings 17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal.
• 2 Kings 21:3–7 For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped and served all the host of heaven. Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In…
• 2 Chronicles 24:18 They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and idols. So wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

Destroyed by

Gideon

• Judges 6:28 When the men of the city got up in the morning, there was Baal’s altar torn down, with the Asherah pole cut down beside it and the second bull offered up on the newly built altar.

Hezekiah

• 2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.

Josiah

• 2 Kings 23:14 He smashed the sacred pillars to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and covered the sites with human bones.
• 2 Chronicles 34:3–4 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images. Then in his presence the altars of the Baals wer…

Asa

• 2 Chronicles 14:3 He removed the foreign altars and high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and chopped down the Asherah poles.

Jehoshaphat

• 2 Chronicles 17:6 And his heart took delight in the ways of the LORD; furthermore, he removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.
• 2 Chronicles 19:3 However, some good is found in you, for you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have set your heart on seeking God.”

See Idolatry