Exodus 23:24

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

“You must not bow down to their gods; you must not serve them or do according to their practices. Instead you must completely overthrow them and smash their standing stones to pieces.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לֹֽא־תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֤ה לֵאלֹֽהֵיהֶם֙ וְלֹ֣א תָֽעָבְדֵ֔ם וְלֹ֥א תַעֲשֶׂ֖ה כְּמַֽעֲשֵׂיהֶ֑ם כִּ֤י הָרֵס֙ תְּהָ֣רְסֵ֔ם וְשַׁבֵּ֥ר תְּשַׁבֵּ֖ר מַצֵּבֹתֵיהֶֽם׃

Transliteration

Not-tištaḥăweh to-ʾĕlōhêhem and-not tāʿobdēm and-not taʿăśeh as-maʿăśêhem for hārēs tĕhārĕsēm and-šabbēr tĕšabbēr maṣṣēbōtêhem

Grammar Details

• *tištaḥăweh*: hishtaphel imperfect 2nd person masculine singular - bow down/prostrate yourself
• *ʾĕlōhêhem*: noun masculine plural with 3rd person masculine plural suffix - their gods
• *tāʿobdēm*: qal imperfect 2nd person masculine singular with 3rd person masculine plural suffix - serve/worship them
• *taʿăśeh*: qal imperfect 2nd person masculine singular - do/make
• *maʿăśêhem*: noun masculine plural with 3rd person masculine plural suffix - their deeds/practices
• *hārēs tĕhārĕsēm*: qal infinitive absolute + piel imperfect 2nd person masculine singular with 3rd person masculine plural suffix - emphatic construction: 'you shall utterly destroy them'
• *šabbēr tĕšabbēr*: piel infinitive absolute + piel imperfect 2nd person masculine singular - emphatic construction: 'you shall utterly shatter'
• *maṣṣēbōtêhem*: noun feminine plural with 3rd person masculine plural suffix - their sacred pillars/standing stones

Word Meanings

• *tištaḥăweh*: bow down/prostrate yourself/worship
• *tāʿobdēm*: serve/worship/work for them
• *maʿăśêhem*: their deeds/practices/customs/works
• *hārēs tĕhārĕsēm*: you shall utterly destroy them/completely demolish them
• *šabbēr tĕšabbēr*: you shall utterly shatter/completely break in pieces
• *maṣṣēbōtêhem*: their sacred pillars/standing stones/monuments

Referenced Verses

• Exod 20:5 : 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,
• Num 33:52 : 52 you must drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images, all their molten images, and demolish their high places.
• Deut 7:5 : 5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, cut down their sacred Asherah poles, and burn up their idols.
• Deut 12:3 : 3 You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, burn up their sacred Asherah poles, and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place.
• Deut 12:30-31 : 30 After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say,“How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same.” 31 You must not worship the LORD your God the way they do! For everything that is abhorrent to him, everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods!
• Lev 18:3 : 3 You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; you must not walk in their statutes.
• Lev 18:26-30 : 26 You yourselves must obey my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner in your midst, 27 for the people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become unclean. 28 So do not make the land vomit you out because you defile it just as it has vomited out the nations that were before you. 29 For if anyone does any of these abominations, the persons who do them will be cut off from the midst of their people. 30 You must obey my charge not to practice any of the abominable statutes that have been done before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.’”
• Exod 32:20 : 20 He took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, poured it out on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.
• Exod 34:13-14 : 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.
• Deut 7:25-26 : 25 You must burn the images of their gods, but do not covet the silver and gold that covers them so much that you take it for yourself and thus become ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent to the LORD your God. 26 You must not bring any abhorrent thing into your house and thereby become an object of divine wrath along with it. You must absolutely detest and abhor it, for it is an object of divine wrath.
• 2 Chr 33:2 : 2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the LORD drove out ahead of the Israelites.
• 2 Chr 33:9 : 9 But Manasseh misled the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.
• 2 Chr 34:3-7 : 3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David. In his twelfth year he began ridding Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherah poles, idols, and images. 4 He ordered the altars of the Baals to be torn down, and broke the incense altars that were above them. He smashed the Asherah poles, idols and images, crushed them up and sprinkled the dust over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them. 5 He burned the bones of the pagan priests on their altars; he purified Judah and Jerusalem. 6 In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them, 7 he tore down the altars and Asherah poles, demolished the idols, and smashed all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
• Ps 101:3 : 3 I will not even consider doing what is dishonest. I hate doing evil; I will have no part of it.
• Ps 106:35-38 : 35 They mixed in with the nations and learned their ways. 36 They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. 38 They shed innocent blood– the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted by bloodshed.
• Ezek 16:47 : 47 Have you not copied their behavior and practiced their abominable deeds? In a short time you became even more depraved in all your conduct than they were!