33 Bible Verses about Baal Worship, History
Most Relevant Verses
The people joined the Baal-peor cult. As a result, the anger of the LORD flared up against Israel, so the LORD told Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight for the LORD, so the LORD's burning anger may be withdrawn from Israel." Then Moses ordered the judges of Israel, "Each one of you is to execute the men in his own tribe who joined the Baal-peor cult."
The next day, Balak brought Balaam up to Bamoth-baal, where he could see part of the community of Israel.
You saw with your own eyes what he did in Baal Peor. The LORD your God exterminated from among you every man who followed Baal of Peor.
"I found Israel, as one finds grapes in the wilderness; Your ancestors seemed to me like the fruit gleaned from a fig tree's first harvest. When they went to Baal-peor, they devoted themselves to that filth, and they became loathsome, like what they loved.
They abandoned the LORD God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from among the gods of the nations who surrounded them. They bowed down in worship of them, and by doing so angered the LORD. As a result, they abandoned the LORD by serving both Baal and Ashtaroth.
The Israelis kept on practicing evil in full view of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served Canaanite male and female deities.
But Joash responded to everyone who was opposing him, "Do you really intend to fight on Baal's behalf? Do you really intend to rescue him by ordering that whoever fights him will be executed by morning? If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself. After all, it was his altar that was torn down." So that very day he named Gideon Jerubbaal, that is, "Let Baal fight," since he had torn down his altar.
Later on, as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelis again committed spiritual adultery with various Canaanite deities and appointed Baal-berith to be their god.
Later on, the Israelis again practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by serving the Baals, the stars, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the descendants of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. In doing so, they ignored the LORD and wouldn't serve him.
So the Israelis removed the Baals and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.
"Then they cried out to the LORD: "We have sinned because we have forsaken the LORD and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.'
Elijah the foreigner, who was an alien resident from Gilead, told Ahab, "As the LORD God of Israel lives, in whose presence I'm standing, there will be neither dew nor rain these next several years, except when I say so."
Omri's son Ahab practiced more of what the LORD considered to be evil than anyone who had lived before him. In fact, as if it were nothing for him to live like Nebat's son Jeroboam, Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon. Then he went out to serve Baal and worship him. He built an altar for Baal in a temple for Baal that he constructed in Samaria. read more.
Ahab also erected an Asherah, doing more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all of the kings of Israel who had reigned before him.
But Elijah replied, "I'm no destroyer of Israel. But you and your ancestor's household have been doing that, because you have abandoned the LORD's commandments and have followed the Baals. So go gather all of Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. Bring along 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah who are funded at Jezebel's expense."
He served Baal, worshipped him, and provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger, in accordance with everything his father had done.
Then Jehu assembled all the people and announced to them, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him a lot! Therefore summon all of Baal's prophets to me, including all his worshipers and all his priests. Don't leave even one out, because I've prepared a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever doesn't show up doesn't live!" But Jehu did this deceptively, intending to destroy Baal's worshippers. Jehu ordered, "Set aside a solemn assembly for Baal!"read more.
And so they proclaimed it. Jehu sent the proclamation throughout Israel, and all the Baal worshipers came. There wasn't a single man left who failed to come. When they entered Baal's temple, it was filled from one end to the other. Then Jehu ordered the one in charge of the wardrobe, "Bring out garments for all of the worshipers of Baal." So he brought out garments for them. Jehu and Rechab's son Jehonadab entered Baal's temple, and Jehu told the Baal worshipers, "Look around and be sure that no servant of the LORD is here among you, but only worshipers of Baal." Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Meanwhile, Jehu had stationed 80 men outside, ordering them, "If any of these men whom I've brought into your control escape, the one who allows it will forfeit his life." 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, 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. That's how Jehu eradicated Baal from Israel. Even so, Jehu never abandoned the sins of Nebat's son Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin, regarding the golden calves that were at Bethel and Dan.
Then Jehoiada entered into a covenant with the LORD, the king, and the people, that they would live as the LORD's people, and also entered into a covenant with the king and the people. Then all of the people of the land entered Baal's temple, tore it down, and broke his altars and his images to pieces, killing Mattan the priest of Baal right in front of the altars. Furthermore, Jehoiada the priest appointed officers to guard the LORD's Temple,
"Call your mother to account, call her for she is not my wife, and I'm not her husband. Let her do away with her seductive looks and remove her adultery from between her breasts. Otherwise, I'll strip her naked as she was on the day she was born make her like a wilderness, turn her into a parched land, and cause her to die of thirst. Furthermore, I'll not show pity on her children, since they are children of prostitution.read more.
Indeed, their mother has committed prostitution the one who has been conceiving them has acted disgracefully when she said, "I'm going after my lovers, who provide me food and water, as well as my wool, my flax, my oil, and my wine.' "Look how I'm blocking her path with thorns and building a wall to hinder her, so she can't find her way. She will pursue her lovers, but she won't catch up with them. She will seek them, but she won't find them. Then she will say, "I'll go back and return to my first husband, because it was better for me then than now.' She didn't recognize that it was I who provided her grain, wine, and oil, and it was I who gave her silver, while they crafted gold for Baal. "Therefore I'll return and take back my grain at harvest time and my new wine in its season. I'll take back my wool and my flax that was to have covered her nakedness. So now I'll reveal her lewdness to the eyes of her lovers, and no man will rescue her from my control. I'll put a stop to her mirth, along with her celebrations, her New Moons, her Sabbaths, and all of her festive assemblies. I'll destroy her vines and her fig trees, about which she said, "These are the earnings that my lovers paid me. I'll make them grow into a forest, and the wild animals will eat from them.' I'll punish her for the time she has devoted to the Baals, to whom she burned incense, and for whom she put on her earrings and jewels so she could go after her lovers and forget me," declares the LORD.
The more I called out to them, the farther they fled from me; they sacrificed to Baals, burning incense to carved images.
"When the tribe of Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; and it was exalted within Israel. But when they offended God by Baal, they died,
Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem, but he did not practice what the LORD considered to be right, as his ancestor David had done. Instead, he lived like the kings of Israel did. He cast metal images of Baal,
"The priests didn't say, "Where is the LORD?' and those handling the Law didn't know me. The rulers transgressed against me, the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they followed that which does not profit.
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear by false gods, burn incense to Baal, follow other gods that you don't know,
I told her, "You will remain with me a long time, you won't be promiscuous, you won't be involved with any man, and I'll do the same."
So the Israelis practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by worshiping Canaanite deities. They abandoned the LORD God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from among the gods of the nations who surrounded them. They bowed down in worship of them, and by doing so angered the LORD. As a result, they abandoned the LORD by serving both Baal and Ashtaroth. read more.
So in his burning anger against Israel, the LORD gave them into the domination of marauders who plundered them. The enemies who surrounded the Israelis controlled them, and they were no longer able to withstand their adversaries.
When the leading men of the city got up early the next morning, the altar to Baal had been torn down, along with the Asherah that had stood beside it, and the second bull had been offered on the altar that had been erected. They asked each other, "Who did this thing?" When they looked into it and asked around, they concluded, "Joash's son Gideon did it." So the leading men of the city ordered Joash, "Bring us that son of yours. He's going to die, because he tore down the altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah that stood beside it!"read more.
But Joash responded to everyone who was opposing him, "Do you really intend to fight on Baal's behalf? Do you really intend to rescue him by ordering that whoever fights him will be executed by morning? If Baal is a god, let him fight for himself. After all, it was his altar that was torn down." So that very day he named Gideon Jerubbaal, that is, "Let Baal fight," since he had torn down his altar.
She didn't recognize that it was I who provided her grain, wine, and oil, and it was I who gave her silver, while they crafted gold for Baal.
And you carried the tent of your king and Saturn, your star god idols that you crafted for yourselves.
Judah, you have as many gods as you have towns, and you have set up as many altars to the shameful idols as there are streets in Jerusalem. You burn incense to Baal on these altars.
""This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "I'm about to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of all who hear about it tingle. For they have forsaken me and have treated this place as foreign. In it they have burned incense to other gods that neither they, their ancestors, nor the kings of Judah knew. They have also filled this place with the blood of innocent people. 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! """Therefore, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when this place will no longer be called Topheth, or the Valley of Hinnom, but rather the Valley of Slaughter.
But what was the divine reply to him? "I have reserved for myself 7,000 people who have not knelt to worship Baal."
