Exodus 20:23

Bible in Basic English (1941)

Gods of silver and gods of gold you are not to make for yourselves.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לֹ֥א תַעֲשׂ֖וּן אִתִּ֑י אֱלֹ֤הֵי כֶ֙סֶף֙ וֵאלֹהֵ֣י זָהָ֔ב לֹ֥א תַעֲשׂ֖וּ לָכֶֽם׃

Transliteration

lōʾ taʿăśûn with me ʾĕlōhê kesep̄ and ʾĕlōhê zāhāb lōʾ taʿăśû for yourselves

Grammar Details

• *lōʾ*: negative particle - not
• *taʿăśûn*: Qal imperfect 2nd masculine plural (paragogic form) - you shall not make
• *ʾittî*: preposition + 1st person singular suffix - with me
• *ʾĕlōhê*: noun construct plural - gods of
• *kesep̄*: noun, masculine singular - silver
• *wə-ʾĕlōhê*: conjunction + noun construct plural - and gods of
• *zāhāb*: noun, masculine singular - gold
• *taʿăśû*: Qal imperfect 2nd masculine plural - you shall make
• *lākem*: preposition + 2nd masculine plural suffix - for yourselves

Word Meanings

• *taʿăśûn*: make/do/fashion
• *ʾĕlōhê*: gods/deities (in construct form)
• *kesep̄*: silver/money
• *zāhāb*: gold/golden material

Referenced Verses

• Exod 20:3-5 : 3 You are to have no other gods but me. 4 You are not to make an image or picture of anything in heaven or on the earth or in the waters under the earth: 5 You may not go down on your faces before them or give them worship: for I, the Lord your God, am a God who will not give his honour to another; and I will send punishment on the children for the wrongdoing of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation of my haters;
• Ezek 20:39 : 39 As for you, O children of Israel, the Lord has said: Let every man completely put away his images and give ear to me: and let my holy name no longer be shamed by your offerings and your images.
• Zeph 1:5 : 5 And the worshippers of the army of heaven on the house-tops, and the Lord's worshippers who take oaths by Milcom,
• 2 Kgs 17:33 : 33 They gave worship to the Lord, but they gave honour to their gods like the nations did from whom they had been taken as prisoners.
• 2 Kgs 17:41 : 41 So these nations, worshipping the Lord, still were servants to the images they had made; their children and their children's children did the same; as their fathers did, so do they, to this day.
• 1 Cor 10:21-22 : 21 It is not possible for you, at the same time, to take the cup of the Lord and the cup of evil spirits; you may not take part in the table of the Lord and the table of evil spirits. 22 Or may we be the cause of envy to the Lord? are we stronger than he?
• 2 Cor 6:14-16 : 14 Do not keep company with those who have not faith: for what is there in common between righteousness and evil, or between light and dark? 15 And what agreement is there between Christ and the Evil One? or what part has one who has faith with one who has not? 16 And what agreement has the house of God with images? for we are a house of the living God; even as God has said, I will be living among them, and walking with them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.
• Col 2:18-19 : 18 Let no man take your reward from you by consciously making little of himself and giving worship to angels; having his thoughts fixed on the things which he has seen, being foolishly lifted up in his natural mind, 19 And not joined to the Head, from whom all the body, being given strength and kept together through its joins and bands, has its growth with the increase of God.
• 1 John 5:20-21 : 20 And we are certain that the Son of God has come, and has given us a clear vision, so that we may see him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 My little children, keep yourselves from false gods.
• Rev 22:15 : 15 Outside are the dogs, and those who make use of evil powers, those who make themselves unclean, and the takers of life, and those who give worship to images, and everyone whose delight is in what is false.
• Ezek 43:8 : 8 By putting their doorstep by my doorstep, and the pillar of their door by the pillar of my door, with only a wall between me and them; and they have made my holy name unclean by the disgusting things which they have done: so in my wrath I sent destruction on them.
• Dan 5:4 : 4 They took their wine and gave praise to the gods of gold and silver, of brass and iron and wood and stone.
• Dan 5:23 : 23 But you have been lifting yourself up against the Lord of heaven, and they have put the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your women, have taken wine in them; and you have given praise to gods of silver and gold, of brass and iron and wood and stone, who are without the power of seeing or hearing, and without knowledge: and to the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not given glory;
• Exod 32:1-4 : 1 And when the people saw that Moses was a long time coming down from the mountain, they all came to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us a god to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has become of him. 2 Then Aaron said to them, Take off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters, and give them to me. 3 And all the people took the gold rings from their ears and gave them to Aaron. 4 And he took the gold from them and, hammering it with an instrument, he made it into the metal image of a young ox: and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt.
• Exod 32:31 : 31 Then Moses went back to the Lord and said, This people has done a great sin, making themselves a god of gold;
• 1 Sam 5:4-5 : 4 And when they got up early on the morning after, Dagon had come down to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord; and his head and his hands were broken off on the doorstep; only the base was in its place. 5 So to this day no priest of Dagon, or any who come into Dagon's house, will put his foot on the doorstep of the house of Dagon in Ashdod.