Ashe'ra

Ashe'ra, the name of a Phoenician goddess, or rather of the idol itself by which the goddess was symbolised. The name is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament in connection with Ashtoreth and her worship, and it appears certain that the latter is the proper name of the goddess, while Ashera is her image or symbol. The image was always of wood, and the most probable etymology of the name (Heb. āshēr = yāshar, 'to be straight') seems to point to the phallic emblem and the licentious rites associated with the worship of Ashtoreth. The translators of the Authorised Version, following the renderings of the Septuagint and the Vulgate, translated the word by 'grove,' spite of the difficulties offered by such passages as 2 Kings, xxi. 7, and xxiii. 6; but this error has disappeared in the Revised Version.