“You shall make no molded gods for yourselves.
Parallel translations
- WEB “You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.
- KJV Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
- BSB You shall make no molten gods for yourselves.
- NASB You shall not make for yourself any gods cast in metal.
- NLT You must not make any gods of molten metal for yourselves.
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
God forbids making cast metal idols, the same sin Israel just committed with the golden calf.
Overview
As the covenant is renewed after the golden-calf rebellion, the first command God reiterates is the prohibition of idols, striking at the very sin Israel had committed. Pouring molten metal into a mold to make a god is condemned outright. True worship must be of the unseen LORD on His own terms, anticipating the worship 'in spirit and truth' that Christ secures (John 4:24).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Lev 19:4“‘Don’t turn to idols, nor make molten gods for yourselves. I am Yahweh your God.
- Exod 32:8They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
- Isa 46:6–7Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down — yes, they worship.
- Jer 10:14Every man has become brutish and without knowledge; every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image; for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
- Acts 19:26You see and hear, that not at Ephesus alone, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no gods, that are made with hands.
- Acts 17:29Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 34:17 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.