2 Kings 17:35

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

The LORD made a covenant with them and instructed them,“You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיִּכְרֹ֨ת יְהוָ֤ה אִתָּם֙ בְּרִ֔ית וַיְצַוֵּ֣ם לֵאמֹ֔ר לֹ֥א תִֽירְא֖וּ אֱלֹהִ֣ים אֲחֵרִ֑ים וְלֹא־תִשְׁתַּחֲו֣וּ לָהֶ֔ם וְלֹ֣א תַעַבְד֔וּם וְלֹ֥א תִזְבְּח֖וּ לָהֶֽם׃

Transliteration

wa-yikrōt YHWH ʾittām bərît wa-yəṣawwēm lēmōr lōʾ tîrəʾû ʾĕlōhîm ʾăḥērîm wə-lōʾ-tištaḥăwû lāhem wə-lōʾ taʿabdûm wə-lōʾ tizbəḥû lāhem

Grammar Details

• *wa-yikrōt*: conjunction + Qal imperfect 3ms - and he cut/made
• *YHWH*: divine name - LORD/Yahweh
• *ʾittām*: preposition + 3mp suffix - with them
• *bərît*: feminine singular noun - covenant
• *wa-yəṣawwēm*: conjunction + Piel imperfect 3ms + 3mp suffix - and he commanded them
• *lēmōr*: Qal infinitive construct - saying
• *lōʾ*: negative particle - not
• *tîrəʾû*: Qal imperfect 2mp - you shall fear
• *ʾĕlōhîm*: masculine plural noun - gods
• *ʾăḥērîm*: masculine plural adjective - other
• *wə-lōʾ*: conjunction + negative particle - and not
• *tištaḥăwû*: Hishtaphel imperfect 2mp - you shall bow down
• *lāhem*: preposition + 3mp suffix - to them
• *taʿabdûm*: Qal imperfect 2mp + 3mp suffix - you shall serve them
• *tizbəḥû*: Qal imperfect 2mp - you shall sacrifice

Word Meanings

• *wa-yikrōt bərît*: made a covenant/cut a covenant (idiom)
• *tîrəʾû*: fear/revere/worship
• *tištaḥăwû*: bow down to/prostrate before/worship

Referenced Verses

• Judg 6:10 : 10 I said to you,“I am the LORD your God! Do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living!” But you have disobeyed me.’”
• Exod 34:12-17 : 12 Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it become a snare among you. 13 Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15 Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you, you will eat from his sacrifice; 16 and you then take his daughters for your sons, and when his daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods as well. 17 You must not make yourselves molten gods.
• Deut 4:23-27 : 23 Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he has made with you, and that you do not make an image of any kind, just as he has forbidden you. 24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire; he is a jealous God. 25 Threat and Blessing following Covenant Disobedience After you have produced children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, if you become corrupt and make an image of any kind and do other evil things before the LORD your God that enrage him, 26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will surely and swiftly be removed from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be annihilated. 27 Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you among the nations where the LORD will drive you.
• Exod 20:4-5 : 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me,
• Josh 23:7 : 7 or associate with these nations that remain near you. You must not invoke or make solemn declarations by the names of their gods! You must not worship or bow down to them!
• Josh 23:16 : 16 If you violate the covenantal laws of the LORD your God which he commanded you to keep, and follow, worship, and bow down to other gods, the LORD will be very angry with you and you will disappear quickly from the good land which he gave to you.”
• Exod 24:6-8 : 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar. 7 He took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people, and they said,“We are willing to do and obey all that the LORD has spoken.” 8 So Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people and said,“This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
• Deut 13:1-9 : 1 Suppose a prophet or one who foretells by dreams should appear among you and show you a sign or wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely,“Let us follow other gods”– gods whom you have not previously known–“and let us serve them.” 3 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the LORD your God will be testing you to see if you love him with all your mind and being. 4 You must follow the LORD your God and revere only him; and you must observe his commandments, obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him. 5 As for that prophet or dreamer, he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the LORD your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within. 6 False Prophets in the Family Suppose your own full brother, your son, your daughter, your beloved wife, or your closest friend should seduce you secretly and encourage you to go and serve other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have previously known, 7 the gods of the surrounding people(whether near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other). 8 You must not give in to him or even listen to him; do not feel sympathy for him or spare him or cover up for him. 9 Instead, you must kill him without fail! Your own hand must be the first to strike him, and then the hands of the whole community. 10 You must stone him to death because he tried to entice you away from the LORD your God, who delivered you from the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. 11 Thus all Israel will hear and be afraid; no longer will they continue to do evil like this among you. 12 Punishment of Community Idolatry Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you as a place to live, that 13 some evil people have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, saying,“Let’s go and serve other gods”(whom you have not known before). 14 You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, 15 you must by all means slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock. 16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It will be an abandoned ruin forever– it must never be rebuilt again. 17 You must not take for yourself anything that has been placed under judgment. Then the LORD will relent from his intense anger, show you compassion, have mercy on you, and multiply you as he promised your ancestors. 18 Thus you must obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commandments that I am giving you today and doing what is right before him.
• Deut 29:10-15 : 10 You are standing today, all of you, before the LORD your God– the heads of your tribes, your elders, your officials, every Israelite man, 11 your infants, your wives, and the resident foreigners living in your encampment, those who chop wood and those who carry water– 12 so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the LORD your God is making with you today. 13 Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 It is not with you alone that I am making this covenant by oath, 15 but with whoever stands with us here today before the LORD our God as well as those not with us here today.
• 2 Kgs 17:15 : 15 They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to the LORD. They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the LORD’s command.
• Jer 10:5 : 5 Such idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field. They cannot talk. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them because they cannot hurt you. And they do not have any power to help you.”
• Jer 31:31-34 : 31 “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the LORD,“when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” says the LORD. 33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the LORD.“I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people. 34 “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the LORD.“For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”
• Heb 8:6-9 : 6 But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry, since the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one. 8 But showing its fault, God says to them,“Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9 “It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord. 10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. 11 “And there will be no need at all for each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying,‘Know the Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.” 13 When he speaks of a new covenant, he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear.
• Exod 19:5-6 : 5 And now, if you will diligently listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine, 6 and you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites.”