And never set up sacred pillars for worship, for the Lord your God hates them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Neither shall you set yourself up a sacred stone which Yahweh your God hates.
- KJV Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.
- BSB and do not set up for yourselves a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates.
- NKJV You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
- NASB And you shall not set up for yourself a memorial stone, which the Lord your God hates.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel was not to set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord hates. God rejects worship borrowed from pagan practice.
Overview
Sacred stone pillars were features of Canaanite cult worship, and God declares his hatred of them as instruments of false devotion. Israel's worship was to be wholly distinct from the surrounding nations. This insistence on pure, God-defined worship underscores that the Lord alone determines how he is to be approached, a truth fulfilled in coming to God through Christ alone.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Lev 26:1“‘You shall make for yourselves no idols, and you shall not raise up an engraved image or a pillar, and you shall not place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am Yahweh your God.
- Exod 20:4“You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
- Deut 12:31You shall not do so to Yahweh your God; for every abomination to Yahweh, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
- Jer 44:4However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.”
- Zech 8:17and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate,” says Yahweh.
- Rev 2:6But this you have, that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
- Rev 2:15So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans likewise.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 16:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.