the moon, worshipped by the Assyrians as the receptive power in nature. Definition from Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897, public domain), a 19th-century Christian reference work. Where scholarship has since moved on: Identifying the title with the moon reflects the same 19th-century framing. The figure is now usually connected with Ishtar/Astarte, associated with the planet Venus.
Daily life in Bible times
Queen of heaven
The gods of their world
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Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.
- Jeremiah 7:18bsb
The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.
- Jeremiah 44:17bsb
Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.
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