Leviticus 26:1

American Standard Version (1901)

Ye shall make you no idols, neither shall ye rear you up a graven image, or a pillar, neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am Jehovah your God.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לֹֽא־תַעֲשׂ֨וּ לָכֶ֜ם אֱלִילִ֗ם וּפֶ֤סֶל וּמַצֵּבָה֙ לֹֽא־תָקִ֣ימוּ לָכֶ֔ם וְאֶ֣בֶן מַשְׂכִּ֗ית לֹ֤א תִתְּנוּ֙ בְּאַרְצְכֶ֔ם לְהִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֺ֖ת עָלֶ֑יהָ כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יְהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃

Transliteration

Not taʿaśû to-you ʾelîlîm and-pesel and-maṣṣēbâ not tāqîmû to-you and-ʾeben maśkît not tittenû in-ʾarṣekem to-hištaḥăwōt upon-it for I YHWH ʾĕlōhêkem

Grammar Details

• *taʿaśû*: verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural - you shall make
• *ʾelîlîm*: noun, masculine plural - idols/worthless things
• *pesel*: noun, masculine singular - carved image/idol
• *maṣṣēbâ*: noun, feminine singular - pillar/standing stone
• *tāqîmû*: verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural - you shall set up/erect
• *ʾeben*: noun, feminine singular construct - stone of
• *maśkît*: noun, feminine singular - carved figure/imagery
• *tittenû*: verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural - you shall put/place
• *ʾarṣekem*: noun, feminine singular + 2nd person masculine plural suffix - your land
• *hištaḥăwōt*: verb, hitpael infinitive construct - to bow down/worship
• *YHWH*: proper noun - the divine name
• *ʾĕlōhêkem*: noun, masculine plural + 2nd person masculine plural suffix - your God

Word Meanings

• *ʾelîlîm*: idols/worthless gods/nothings
• *pesel*: carved image/graven image/idol
• *maṣṣēbâ*: pillar/standing stone/sacred pillar
• *ʾeben maśkît*: figured stone/stone with imagery/decorated stone
• *hištaḥăwōt*: to bow down/prostrate oneself/worship

Referenced Verses

• Lev 19:4 : 4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am Jehovah your God.
• Exod 23:24 : 24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and break in pieces their pillars.
• Exod 20:4-5 : 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness [of any thing] that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me,
• Exod 20:23 : 23 Ye shall not make [other gods] with me; gods of silver, or gods of gold, ye shall not make unto you.
• Num 33:52 : 52 then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured [stones], and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places:
• Deut 16:21-22 : 21 Thou shalt not plant thee an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Jehovah thy God, which thou shalt make thee. 22 Neither shalt thou set thee up a pillar; which Jehovah thy God hateth.
• Deut 27:15 : 15 Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination unto Jehovah, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and setteth it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.
• Ps 97:7 : 7 Let all them be put to shame that serve graven images, That boast themselves of idols: Worship him, all ye gods.
• Ps 115:4-8 : 4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. 5 They have mouths, but they speak not; Eyes have they, but they see not; 6 They have ears, but they hear not; Noses have they, but they smell not; 7 They have hands, but they handle not; Feet have they, but they walk not; Neither speak they through their throat. 8 They that make them shall be like unto them; Yea, every one that trusteth in them.
• Isa 2:20 : 20 In that day men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for them to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
• Isa 44:9-9 : 9 They that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses see not, nor know: that they may be put to shame. 10 Who hath fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame; and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; they shall fear, they shall be put to shame together. 12 The smith [maketh] an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretcheth out a line; he marketh it out with a pencil; he shapeth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compasses, and shapeth it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. 14 He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the holm-tree and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the forest: he planteth a fir-tree, and the rain doth nourish it. 15 Then shall it be for a man to burn; and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread: yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. 16 He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. 17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth down unto it and worshippeth, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. 18 They know not, neither do they consider: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19 And none calleth to mind, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? 20 He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside; and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
• Isa 48:5-8 : 5 therefore I have declared it to thee from of old; before it came to pass I showed it thee; lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them. 6 Thou hast heard it; behold all this; and ye, will ye not declare it? I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, which thou hast not known. 7 They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them. 8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from of old thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou didst deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
• Jer 10:3-8 : 3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are like a palm-tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good. 6 There is none like unto thee, O Jehovah; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. 7 Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? for to thee doth it appertain; forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like unto thee. [ 8 But they are together brutish and foolish: the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.
• Acts 17:29 : 29 Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
• Rom 2:22-23 : 22 thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples? 23 thou who gloriest in the law, through thy transgression of the law dishonorest thou God?
• 1 Cor 10:19-20 : 19 What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 But [I say], that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have communion with demons.
• Rev 13:14-15 : 14 And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived. 15 And it was given [unto him] to give breath to it, [even] to the image to the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
• Rev 22:15 : 15 Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie.
• Deut 4:16-19 : 16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in the heavens, 18 the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth; 19 and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven.
• Deut 5:8-9 : 8 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, [nor] any likeness [of anything] that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 9 thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me;
• Exod 34:17 : 17 Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.