Leviticus 26:1

KJV1611 – Modern English

You shall make no idols nor carved image, neither set up a standing image, nor shall you set up any image of stone in your land to bow down to it: for I am the LORD 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

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  Do not make idols for yourselves, or set up a carved image or a sacred pillar for yourselves, and do not place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the LORD your God.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  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.

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

• Tyndale Bible (1526/1534)

  Ye shall make you no ydolles nor grauen ymage nether rere you vpp any piler nether ye shall sett vp any ymage of stone in youre lande to bowe youre selues there to: for I am the Lorde youre God.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  Ye shall make you no Idols ner ymage, and ye shal reare you vp no piler, ner set vp eny markstone in youre londe, to bowe youre selues therto. For I am the LORDE youre God.

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  Ye shall make you none idoles nor grauen image, neither reare you vp any pillar, neither shal ye set any image of stone in your land to bow downe to it: for I am the Lord your God.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  Ye shall make you no idols nor graue image, neither reare you vp any piller, neither shall ye set vp any image of stone in your lande to bowe downe vnto it: for I am the Lorde your God.

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  ¶ Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up [any] image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I [am] the LORD your God.

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  "'You shall make for yourselves no idols, neither shall you raise up an engraved image or a pillar, neither shall you place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it: for I am Yahweh your God.

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  `Ye do not make to yourselves idols; and graven image or standing image ye do not set up to yourselves; and a stone of imagery ye do not put in your land, to bow yourselves to it; for I `am' Jehovah your God.

• 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.

• 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.

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  Do not make images of false gods, or put up an image cut in stone or a pillar or any pictured stone in your land, to give worship to it; for I am the Lord your God.

• World English Bible (2000)

  "'You shall make for yourselves no idols, neither shall you raise up an engraved image or a pillar, neither shall you place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it: for I am Yahweh your God.

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  Exhortation to Obedience“‘You must not make for yourselves idols, so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before it, for I am the LORD your God.

Referenced Verses

• Lev 19:4 : 4 Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.
• Exod 23:24 : 24 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.
• Exod 20:4-5 : 4 You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or 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. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.
• Exod 20:23 : 23 You shall not make anything to be with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.
• Num 33:52 : 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their carved images, and destroy all their molten images, and thoroughly demolish all their high places:
• Deut 16:21-22 : 21 You shall not plant for yourself any grove of trees near to the altar of the LORD your God, which you shall make for yourself. 22 Neither shall you set up for yourself any image, which the LORD your God hates.
• Deut 27:15 : 15 Cursed be the man that makes any graven or molten image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and puts it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.
• Ps 97:7 : 7 Confounded be all who serve carved images, who boast of idols: worship him, all you gods.
• Ps 115:4-8 : 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; 6 They have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell; 7 They have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they speak through their throat. 8 Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.
• Isa 2:20 : 20 In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;
• Isa 44:9-9 : 9 Those who make a carved image are all of them vanity; and their delightful things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. 10 Who has formed a god, or cast a carved image that is profitable for nothing? 11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. 12 The smith with the tongs both works in the coals, and fashions it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms: yes, he is hungry, and his strength fails: he drinks no water, and is faint. 13 The carpenter stretches out his rule; he marks it out with a line; he fits it with planes, and he marks it out with the compass, and makes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. 14 He cuts down cedars, and takes the cypress and the oak, which he strengthens for himself among the trees of the forest: he plants an ash, and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it shall be for a man to burn: for he will take of it, and warm himself; yes, he kindles it, and bakes bread; yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. 16 He burns part of it in the fire; with part of it he eats flesh; he roasts a roast, and is satisfied: yes, he warms himself, and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, even his carved image: he falls down to it, and worships it, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me, for you are my god. 18 They have not known nor understood: for he has shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19 And none considers in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yes, also I have baked bread on the coals of it; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the rest of it an abomination? shall I fall down to the stump of a tree? 20 He feeds on ashes: a deceived heart has turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
• Isa 48:5-8 : 5 I have declared it to you from the beginning; before it came to pass I showed it to you, lest you should say, 'My idol has done them, and my carved image and my molded image have commanded them.' 6 You have heard; see all this. And will you not declare it? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them. 7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when you heard them not; lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.' 8 Yes, you did not hear; yes, you did not know; yes, from that time your ear was not opened: for I knew you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.
• Jer 10:3-8 : 3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4 They decorate it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it does not move. 5 They stand upright like a palm tree, but do not speak: they must be carried, because they cannot go. Do not be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good. 6 There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might. 7 Who would not fear you, O King of nations? for it belongs to you: among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you. 8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the wooden idol is a doctrine of vanities.
• Acts 17:29 : 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and man's design.
• Rom 2:22-23 : 22 You who say a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you commit sacrilege? 23 You who make your boast of the law, through breaking the law do you dishonor God?
• 1 Cor 10:19-20 : 19 What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything? 20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God: and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.
• Rev 13:14-15 : 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to those who dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 And he had power to give life to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
• Rev 22:15 : 15 For outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and sexually immoral, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.
• Deut 4:16-19 : 16 Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make for yourselves a carved image, the likeness 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 flies in the air, 18 The likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: 19 And lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, should be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD your God has divided to all nations under the whole heaven.
• Deut 5:8-9 : 8 You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: 9 You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
• Exod 34:17 : 17 You shall make no molten gods for yourself.