Exodus 34:15

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

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;

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

פֶּן־תִּכְרֹ֥ת בְּרִ֖ית לְיוֹשֵׁ֣ב הָאָ֑רֶץ וְזָנ֣וּ ׀ אַחֲרֵ֣י אֱלֹֽהֵיהֶ֗ם וְזָבְחוּ֙ לֵאלֹ֣הֵיהֶ֔ם וְקָרָ֣א לְךָ֔ וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ מִזִּבְחֽוֹ׃

Transliteration

Lest tikrōt bərît with yôšēḇ hāʾāreṣ and they wəzānû after their ʾĕlōhêhem and wəzāḇḥû to their lēʾlōhêhem and wəqārāʾ to you and you wəʾākaltā from his mizziḇḥô.

Grammar Details

• *tikrōt*: imperfect 2nd masculine singular - you cut/make
• *bərît*: feminine singular noun - covenant
• *yôšēḇ*: active participle masculine singular construct - dweller of/inhabitant of
• *hāʾāreṣ*: definite article + feminine singular noun - the land
• *wəzānû*: waw consecutive + perfect 3rd plural - and they will prostitute themselves
• *ʾĕlōhêhem*: masculine plural noun + 3rd masculine plural suffix - their gods
• *wəzāḇḥû*: waw consecutive + perfect 3rd plural - and they will sacrifice
• *lēʾlōhêhem*: preposition + masculine plural noun + 3rd masculine plural suffix - to their gods
• *wəqārāʾ*: waw consecutive + perfect 3rd masculine singular - and he will call/invite
• *wəʾākaltā*: waw consecutive + perfect 2nd masculine singular - and you will eat
• *mizziḇḥô*: preposition + masculine singular noun + 3rd masculine singular suffix - from his sacrifice

Word Meanings

• *tikrōt bərît*: make a covenant/cut a covenant
• *wəzānû*: prostitute themselves/be unfaithful/commit fornication
• *wəzāḇḥû*: sacrifice/offer/slaughter
• *wəqārāʾ*: call/invite/summon
• *mizziḇḥô*: from his sacrifice/from his offering

Referenced Verses

• Num 25:2 : 2 These women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods; then the people ate and bowed down to their gods.
• 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.”
• Judg 2:17 : 17 But they did not obey their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their ancestors had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the LORD’s commands, but they did not.
• 1 Cor 10:27 : 27 If an unbeliever invites you to dinner and you want to go, eat whatever is served without asking questions of conscience.
• Deut 31:16 : 16 Then the LORD said to Moses,“You are about to die, and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they are going. They will reject me and break my covenant that I have made with them.
• 1 Cor 8:7 : 7 But this knowledge is not shared by all. And some, by being accustomed to idols in former times, eat this food as an idol sacrifice, and their conscience, because it is weak, is defiled.
• 1 Cor 8:10 : 10 For if someone weak sees you who possess knowledge dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience be“strengthened” to eat food offered to idols?
• Ps 106:28 : 28 They worshiped Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
• Jer 3:9 : 9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone.
• Exod 34:12 : 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.
• Lev 17:7 : 7 So they must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons, acting like prostitutes by going after them. This is to be a perpetual statute for them throughout their generations.
• Lev 20:5-6 : 5 I myself will set my face against that man and his clan. I will cut off from the midst of their people both him and all who follow after him in spiritual prostitution, to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech. 6 Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums“‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.
• Num 15:39 : 39 You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and obey them and so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness.
• Deut 7:2 : 2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy!
• Exod 23:32 : 32 “You must make no covenant with them or with their gods.
• Exod 34:10 : 10 He said,“See, I am going to make a covenant before all your people. I will do wonders such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the LORD, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you.
• Hos 4:12 : 12 They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery against their God.
• Hos 9:1 : 1 Fertility Cult Festivals Have Intoxicated Israel O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations, for you are unfaithful to your God. You love to receive a prostitute’s wages on all the floors where you thresh your grain.
• 1 Cor 10:20-21 : 20 No, I mean that what the pagans sacrifice is to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot take part in the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
• Rev 2:20 : 20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
• Rev 17:1-5 : 1 The Great Prostitute and the Beast Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me.“Come,” he said,“I will show you the condemnation and punishment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.” 3 So he carried me away in the Spirit to a wilderness, and there I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 Now the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality. 5 On her forehead was written a name, a mystery:“Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”
• Ezra 6:9 : 9 Whatever is needed– whether oxen or rams or lambs for burnt offerings for the God of heaven or wheat or salt or wine or oil, as required by the priests who are in Jerusalem– must be given to them daily without any neglect,
• Ps 73:27 : 27 Yes, look! Those far from you die; you destroy everyone who is unfaithful to you.