High Place (בָּמָה, bamah). The high places were common sites of worship in the ancient Near East, named after their common location at the summits of hills or ridges.

In the Bible, the high places were sites of worship. They were often treated as unsanctioned for worshiping Yahweh, and typically located at the summits of hills. The usual word for high place (בָּמָה, bamah) means “height” or “the back of an animal” (the highest part of an animal). The word was used to describe non-Yahwistic—or at least nonorthodox—sites even when the worship sites were not on hills. High places were often open, natural areas. However, bamah could also indicate an established structure (2 Kgs 23:8; Jer 7:31).

Israel’s high places were likely predominantly Canaanite in origin, at a time before religion power was centralized (Julius Wellhausen, Prolegomena, 18–19). As the Israelites settled into the land and established permanent structures, temples replaced high places as the central place of worship (Wellhausen, Prolegomena, 20).