you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from you, and destroy all their idolatrous sculptures, destroy all their cast metal images, and eliminate all their high places;
Parallel translations
- WEB then 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.
- KJV Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:
- BSB you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.
- NKJV then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places;
- NLT you must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines.
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 is commanded to drive out the inhabitants and destroy all their idols, images, and high places. The land is to be cleansed of Canaanite false worship.
Overview
This command reflects God's holiness and His judgment on persistent Canaanite wickedness (Genesis 15:16; Leviticus 18). The thorough destruction of idolatrous objects was meant to protect Israel from spiritual corruption. It foreshadows the call upon God's people to put away all idols and be wholly devoted to the Lord, a call deepened in the New Testament's summons to flee idolatry (1 John 5:21).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 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 23:24You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars.
- Deut 20:16–18But of the cities of these peoples, that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes;
- Deut 7:2–5and when Yahweh your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them;
- Deut 12:2–3You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree.
- Judg 2:2You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice. Why have you done this?
- Josh 11:11–12They struck all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed. He burned Hazor with fire.
- Exod 34:12–17Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the middle of you:
- 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.”
- Josh 23:7that you not come among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them;
- Ps 106:34–36They didn’t destroy the peoples, as Yahweh commanded them,
- 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.
- Exod 23:31–33I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 33:52 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.