ba.mah denotes elevated sites, chiefly places of sacrifice or altars, and at times literal heights of land or battle.

The term most often identifies elevated worship sites associated with sacrifice, incense, priests, altars, construction, removal, or destruction. In a smaller group of contexts, it denotes literal elevated ground—the heights of a land, battlefield, or terrain upon which someone treads.

1. Elevated worship and sacrifice sites · dominant

   The plural forms identify places where people sacrifice, burn incense, appoint priests, or maintain altars. In 1 Kings 3:2 the APB renders the clause that the people continued to sacrifice at these sites, while 1 Kings 12:32 places priests there; 2 Chronicles 31:1 describes their demolition alongside altars.

   1 Kings 3:21 Kings 12:321 Kings 13:332 Chronicles 28:42 Chronicles 31:12 Chronicles 33:17
2. Literal elevated ground or heights · occasional

   Construct plural forms can refer to elevated terrain rather than a worship location. In 2 Samuel 1:19 the APB renders slain warriors as lying on Israel's heights; Deuteronomy 32:13 describes riding on the heights of the land, and Habakkuk 3:19 speaks of treading on elevated places.

   2 Samuel 1:19Deuteronomy 32:13Amos 4:13Habakkuk 3:19Isaiah 58:14

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the term as "high places" in worship-site contexts and as "heights" or "high places of the land" where the context concerns terrain. These renderings confirm the clauses' overall settings rather than supplying separate lexical definitions.