"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, 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 Bethel.And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven."
Baal, or Ba'al, was a title and honorific meaning "owner" or "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods. Scholars previously associated the theonym with solar cults and with a variety of unrelated patron deities, but inscriptions have shown that the name Baal was particularly associated with the storm an
"I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him."
"Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.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, and the carved images, and the molten images.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, 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.And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem."
"Baal sits (enthroned) like the sitting of a mountain, Haddu ... like the (cosmic) ocean, In the midst of his mountain, divine Sapan, In [the midst of?] the mount of victory, (With) seven lightning-flashes, Eight store-houses of thunder A tree-bolt of lightning.[..] His head is adorned (?), With dew between his eyes ... at his base, ... the horn[s] ... on him (?), His head with a downpour from the heavens ... is watering, His mouth like two clouds (?)... Like wine is the love of his heart..."
"And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. [...]And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor."
"And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies."
"Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you."