בָּמָה

From the study of Isaiah 15:2

Range of meaning

A raised place used for worship: a built platform, an open-air shrine, or a sanctuary complex. The word can also mean the 'back' or 'heights' of land (e.g. 'the heights of the earth,' Deut 32:13), but in worship settings it names the shrine itself, wherever it stood. Some bāmôt were inside towns, even in valleys (Jer 7:31, 'the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom').

Against the English

'High places' (KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT and most modern versions) is the traditional rendering. 'Shrines' (some modern versions) gets the function across but loses the hint of height. English 'high places' sounds like scenery, a lookout point, when the word names a working religious site.

How it drifted

'High places' goes back to the Septuagint's and Vulgate's 'high things' (Latin excelsa), and the King James tradition made it standard. The English stayed literal while the institution it named was forgotten.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Moabite Mesha Stele (about 840 BC, found at Dibon itself in 1868) opens with Mesha saying he made 'this high place (bmt) for Chemosh in Qarḥoh,' the royal quarter of Dibon. It is the same word used in the same city for the same god. In the Hebrew Bible, bāmôt are common in Kings (1 Kgs 3:2; 2 Kgs 23:8–20), and Isaiah 16:12 returns to Moab 'wearying itself on the high place' and going 'to its sanctuary to pray' without result.

From the study of Deuteronomy 33:29

Range of meaning

(1) Height, ridge, high ground (Deut 32:13 'ride on the heights of the land'; Amos 4:13; Mic 1:3; Hab 3:19; Isa 58:14). (2) Probably also 'back' or 'torso'. The related Ugaritic word bmt means the back of a body or of an animal, and Akkadian bamtu means chest/torso. (3) Later, and most often in Kings and Chronicles, a raised cultic platform: a 'high place' used for sacrifice.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB, NASB and YLT: 'high places'. NIV: 'heights'. ESV and NLT: 'backs'. Modern readers of 'high places' think straight away of idolatrous shrines.

How it drifted

'High places' became a fixed English term, through the KJV's books of Kings, for illegitimate worship sites. That narrower sense then gets read back into this victory poem.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has epi ton trachēlon autōn, 'upon their neck', and the Vulgate also has their necks, so ancient translators took it as a body part. Josh 10:24 shows the gesture of putting a foot on a defeated king's neck. Egyptian and Assyrian royal art often shows kings standing on enemies' backs.

From the study of 1 Kings 11:7

Range of meaning

Basic sense 'back, ridge, height' (used of the 'heights' of land, sea and clouds, e.g. Deut 32:13; Isa 14:14). In worship settings it means a local shrine or cult installation: a raised platform, often with an altar, standing stones or a sacred pole, where sacrifice and incense were offered. Bamot could be on hills, in towns (2 Kgs 17:9 'in all their towns'), at city gates (2 Kgs 23:8), or even down in a valley (Jer 7:31, the bamot of Topheth in the Hinnom valley). So the word names a kind of structure, not where it stands.

Against the English

All major English versions keep 'high place', which goes back to the Greek hypsēlon and Latin excelsum, both meaning 'high (place)'. NLT turns it into 'pagan shrine', which gets the function across but hides the fact that Israelites also worshipped YHWH at bamot (1 Kgs 3:2–4, where Solomon himself sacrificed at the great bamah of Gibeon).

How it drifted

'High place' makes readers picture a hilltop. The word's root does mean 'height', but in practice it named a built shrine, wherever it stood. In this verse the bamah does happen to be on a mountain, so the picture fits, but readers should not assume every bamah was on a summit.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Moabite king Mesha's inscription (the Mesha Stele, about 840 BC) uses the same word: 'I made this bamah for Kemosh in Qarḥoh' (line 3). That is a striking parallel: a Moabite king building a bamah for the very god Solomon honours here. Archaeologists often compare open-air platforms such as the one at Tel Dan.