You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.
- KJV Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.
- BSB You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.
- NASB You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds; but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their memorial stones in pieces.
- NLT You must not worship the gods of these nations or serve them in any way or imitate their evil practices. Instead, you must utterly destroy them and smash their sacred pillars.
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 must refuse to worship Canaanite gods or imitate their practices, instead destroying their idols and sacred pillars. Exclusive loyalty to God required removing every rival.
Overview
The command to 'utterly overthrow' the idols and 'demolish their pillars' guards Israel against the seductive pull of pagan worship. Tolerating false religion would corrupt the covenant people, so decisive separation was demanded. This is not ethnic hostility but spiritual fidelity to the one true God. The principle endures: God's people are called to put away idols and worship Him alone, a holiness fulfilled in hearts cleansed by Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Exod 20:5you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
- Deut 12:30–31be careful that you are not ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”
- Num 33:52then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their stone idols, destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places.
- Deut 12:3You shall break down their altars, and dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their gods. You shall destroy their name out of that place.
- Deut 7:5But you shall deal with them like this. You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, and cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their engraved images with fire.
- 2 Chr 33:9Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel did.
- Exod 32:20He took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
- Lev 18:3You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived: and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes.
- Deut 7:25–26You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
- Lev 18:26–30You therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you;
- Exod 34:13–14but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles;
- Ps 106:35–38but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works.
- Ezek 16:47Yet you have not walked in their ways, nor done after their abominations; but, soon you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.
- Ps 101:3I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.
- 2 Chr 34:3–7For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images.
- 2 Chr 33:2He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 23:24 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
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