The host of heaven - The Gods of the Bible

1 Kings 22:19

1 Kings 22:19, in every translation this tool compares.

First, in plain English

Host used to mean an army, which is why we still say a host of enemies. In the Hebrew Bible it does two jobs at once: the army standing around God's throne, and the sun, moon and stars Israel is repeatedly forbidden to worship. Deuteronomy 4:19 ties the two together by saying God allotted those lights to the other nations.

What the text says

Two uses that sit uneasily together, the army standing around Yahweh's throne and the astral bodies Israel is forbidden to worship. Deuteronomy 4:19 turns the second into an allotment, the same move as 32:8. Niehr reads the two senses as one history: the army comes first, the stars arrive under Mesopotamian influence in the eighth and seventh centuries, and the Deuteronomists strip the astral sense back out.

Where it appears

1 Kings 22:19
Deuteronomy 4:19
Deuteronomy 17:3
2 Kings 17:16
Jeremiah 19:13
2 Kings 21:3,5
2 Kings 23:4-5
2 Chronicles 33:3,5
Genesis 2:1
Nehemiah 9:6
Psalm 103:19-21
Psalm 148:1-3
Daniel 8:9-13
Luke 2:13
Acts 7:42

In the Divine Council Index

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/divine-council-index\/1-kings-22-19-23\/","n":"1 Kings 22:19-23","s":"Micaiah reports seeing Yahweh enthroned with the host standing to His right and left.","r":"1 Kings 22:19-23"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/divine-council-index\/deuteronomy-4-19-20\/","n":"Deuteronomy 4:19-20","s":"Israel must not worship the host of heaven, which Yahweh allotted to all the other peoples.","r":"Deuteronomy 4:19-20"}
{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/divine-council-index\/isaiah-24-21-23\/","n":"Isaiah 24:21-23","s":"Yahweh punishes the host of heaven above and the kings of earth below, then reigns before His elders.","r":"Isaiah 24:21-23"}

Read in Why Do Bible Translations Differ?

{"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/bible-translation-differences\/tsava\/","n":"tsava","s":"Army, host. The plural in the title LORD of Hosts.","r":"1 Samuel 1:3"}

Sources

H. Niehr, DDD s.v. "Host of Heaven," 428-429
Heiser, *Unseen Realm*, ch. 15