Exodus 20:3

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

“You shall have no other gods before me.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לֹֽ֣א יִהְיֶֽה־לְךָ֛֩ אֱלֹהִ֥֨ים אֲחֵרִ֖֜ים עַל־פָּנָֽ͏ַ֗י

Transliteration

lōʾ yihyeh-ləḵā ʾĕlōhîm ʾăḥērîm ʿal-pānāy

Grammar Details

• *lōʾ*: negative particle - not
• *yihyeh-ləḵā*: qal imperfect, 3rd masculine singular + preposition with 2nd masculine singular suffix - there shall be to you
• *ʾĕlōhîm*: masculine plural noun - gods
• *ʾăḥērîm*: adjective, masculine plural - other
• *ʿal-pānāy*: preposition + noun construct with 1st singular suffix - before my face/presence

Word Meanings

• *lōʾ yihyeh-ləḵā*: you shall not have/there shall not be to you
• *ʾĕlōhîm ʾăḥērîm*: other gods/foreign deities
• *ʿal-pānāy*: before me/in my presence/in preference to me/against my face

Referenced Verses

• Deut 5:7 : 7 You must not have any other gods besides me.
• Deut 6:5 : 5 You must love the LORD your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength.
• Deut 6:14 : 14 You must not go after other gods, those of the surrounding peoples,
• Ps 81:9 : 9 There must be no other god among you. You must not worship a foreign god.
• Jer 25:6 : 6 Do not pay allegiance to other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do. Then I will not cause you any harm.’
• Jer 35:15 : 15 I sent all my servants the prophets to warn you over and over again. They said,“Every one of you, stop doing the evil things you have been doing and do what is right. Do not pay allegiance to other gods and worship them. Then you can continue to live in this land that I gave to you and your ancestors.” But you did not pay any attention or listen to me.
• Matt 4:10 : 10 Then Jesus said to him,“Go away, Satan! For it is written:‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”
• Isa 46:9 : 9 Remember what I accomplished in antiquity! Truly I am God, I have no peer; I am God, and there is none like me,
• Ps 73:25 : 25 Whom do I have in heaven but you? I desire no one but you on earth.
• Isa 44:8 : 8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me? There is no other sheltering rock; I know of none.
• Isa 26:4 : 4 Trust in the LORD from this time forward, even in Yah, the LORD, an enduring protector!
• Exod 15:11 : 11 Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you?– majestic in holiness, fearful in praises, working wonders?
• Eph 5:5 : 5 For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy(such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
• 1 John 5:20-21 : 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
• Rev 19:10 : 10 So I threw myself down at his feet to worship him, but he said,“Do not do this! I am only a fellow servant with you and your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
• Rev 22:9 : 9 But he said to me,“Do not do this! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets, and with those who obey the words of this book. Worship God!”
• Phil 3:19 : 19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things.
• Col 2:18 : 18 Let no one who delights in false humility and the worship of angels pass judgment on you. That person goes on at great lengths about what he has supposedly seen, but he is puffed up with empty notions by his fleshly mind.
• 1 Cor 8:6 : 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live.
• Exod 20:23 : 23 You must not make gods of silver alongside me, nor make gods of gold for yourselves.
• Isa 43:10 : 10 You are my witnesses,” says the LORD,“my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe in me, and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and none will outlive me.
• Josh 24:18-24 : 18 The LORD drove out from before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. So we too will worship the LORD, for he is our God!” 19 Joshua warned the people,“You will not keep worshiping the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God who will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. 20 If you abandon the LORD and worship foreign gods, he will turn against you; he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, though he once treated you well.” 21 The people said to Joshua,“No! We really will worship the LORD. 22 Joshua said to the people,“Do you agree to be witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the LORD?” They replied,“We are witnesses!” 23 Joshua said,“Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to the LORD God of Israel.” 24 The people said to Joshua,“We will worship the LORD our God and obey him.”
• 2 Kgs 17:29-35 : 29 But each of these nations made its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria had made. Each nation did this in the cities where they lived. 30 The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the people from Cuth made Nergal, the people from Hamath made Ashima, 31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire as an offering to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 At the same time they worshiped the LORD. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places. 33 They were worshiping the LORD and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported. 34 To this very day they observe their earlier practices. They do not worship the LORD; they do not obey the rules, regulations, law, and commandments that the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he renamed Israel. 35 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.
• Ps 29:2 : 2 Acknowledge the majesty of the LORD’s reputation! Worship the LORD in holy attire!
• Isa 45:21-22 : 21 Tell me! Present the evidence! Let them consult with one another! Who predicted this in the past? Who announced it beforehand? Was it not I, the LORD? I have no peer, there is no God but me, a God who vindicates and delivers; there is none but me. 22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, all you who live in the earth’s remote regions! For I am God, and I have no peer.
• 1 Cor 8:4 : 4 With regard then to eating food sacrificed to idols, we know that“an idol in this world is nothing,” and that“there is no God but one.”