Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 3:7

"And the children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and forgat Jehovah their God, and served the Baalim and the Asheroth." — Judges 3:7 (ASV)

Did evil in the sight of the Lord. —Rather, did the evil, as in Judges 2:11.

And the groves. —Rather, and the Asheroth, i.e., the wooden images of the nature-goddess, Asherah (which are also called Asherim). The Septuagint render the word Asherah as alsos, “a grove,” and other versions follow them. (Deuteronomy 8:5; Deuteronomy 16:21; 2 Kings 23:14, and others.) Thus Luther renders it die Hainen, and it used to be erroneously supposed that the word pointed to tree-worship.

The Vulgate renders it “Astaroth.” It seems, however, to be clear from the researches of Mövers and others that Asherah and Astarte were different though allied deities. For the latter, see Judges 2:13. Asherah is from a root which means upright (like Orthia or Orthosia, a designation of Artemis, Herod. iv. 87), and her images are generally mentioned in connection with altars and images of Baal (Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 12:3; 1 Kings 14:23, and so on; Micah 6:12).