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Deuteronomy 9:21

in Deuteronomy 9

And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

KJV

And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

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This verse in Deuteronomy 9

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount--that is, "the smitten rock" (El Leja) which was probably contiguous to, or a part of, Sinai.

This site's exposition

And the Lord was very angry with Aaron

on Deuteronomy 9:20-21

That the Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him is told here and nowhere else in Scripture. Exodus 32 records Aaron making the calf and answering for it, and it says nothing of this sentence on him or of the prayer that turned it, so the man appointed to make atonement for Israel is kept alive by another man's intercession. Verse 21 burns the calf, grinds it as small as dust and casts it into the brook, where Exodus 32:20 adds that Moses made the children of Israel drink of the water. Both accounts stand as they are given.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

He calls it their sin: perhaps not only because it had been the matter of their sin, but because the destroying of it was intended for a testimony against their sin, and an indication to them what the sinners themselves did deserve.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

I took your sin, the calf which ye had made - See this fully explained Exo 32:20 (note).

The words behind it

26 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְֽאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • חַטַּאתְכֶ֞םsin your

    chatatkhemH2403 →295 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־which

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • עֲשִׂיתֶ֣םyou had made

    ʾasitemH6213 →2628 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָעֵ֗גֶלthe calf

    haegelH5695 →

  • לָקַחְתִּי֮I took

    lakachtiH3947 →966 times

  • וָאֶשְׂרֹ֣ףand I burned

    vaesrofH8313 →117 times

  • אֹת֣וֹ׀<obj.> it

    ʾotoH853 →10935 times

  • בָּאֵשׁ֒with <the> fire

    baeshH784 →378 times

  • וָאֶכֹּ֨תand I crushed

    vaekotH3807 →

  • אֹת֤וֹ<obj.> it

    ʾotoH853 →10935 times

  • טָחוֹן֙grinding [it]

    tachonH2912 →

  • הֵיטֵ֔בwell

    heitevH3190 →117 times

  • עַ֥דuntil

    ʾadH5704 →1261 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־that

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • דַּ֖קit was fine

    dakH1854 →

  • לְעָפָ֑ר<into> dust

    leafarH6083 →110 times

  • וָֽאַשְׁלִךְ֙and I threw

    vaashlikhH7993 →125 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • עֲפָר֔וֹdust its

    afaroH6083 →110 times

  • אֶל־into

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הַנַּ֖חַלthe wadi

    hanachalH5158 →141 times

  • הַיֹּרֵ֥דwhich was coming down

    haiyoredH3381 →381 times

  • מִן־from

    min-H4480 →1188 times

  • הָהָֽר׃the mountain

    haharH2022 →546 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Exodus 32:20Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it.6 worksAmos 8:14Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the way of Beersheba lives’—they will fall, never to rise again.”4 worksIsaiah 31:7For on that day, every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold that your own hands have sinfully made.3 worksDeuteronomy 7:5Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.3 worksHosea 10:8The high places of Aven will be destroyed—it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”3 works2 Chronicles 34:7He tore down the altars and Asherah poles, crushed the idols to powder, and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.3 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 2:18–21and the idols will vanish completely.2 worksIsaiah 30:22So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”2 worksHosea 8:11Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.2 works2 Kings 23:6He brought the Asherah pole from the house of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and there he burned it, ground it to powder, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.2 worksPsalms 106:19At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.2 worksMicah 1:7All her carved images will be smashed to pieces; all her wages will be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she collected the wages of a prostitute, they will be used again on a prostitute.2 works1 Kings 15:13He also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley.2 works2 Chronicles 15:16King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.2 works2 Chronicles 34:4Then in his presence the altars of the Baals were torn down, and he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images, crushed them to dust, and scattered them over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.2 works2 Kings 21:15because they have done evil in My sight and have provoked Me to anger from the day their fathers came out of Egypt until this day.’”2 worksPsalms 78:16He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.1 works1 Corinthians 10:4and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.0 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Isaiah 31:7

    For on that day, every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold that your own hands have sinfully made.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 30:22

      So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”

    • Deuteronomy 7:25

      You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Isaiah 2:20

      In that day men will cast away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold—the idols they made to worship.

    • Ezekiel 36:25

      I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.

  • Through

    Hosea 8:11

    Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.

    it leads to

    • Hosea 12:11

      Is there iniquity in Gilead? They will surely come to nothing. Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones in the furrows of the field.

  • Through

    Isaiah 30:22

    So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”

    it leads to

    • Judges 17:3–4

      And when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I wholly dedicate the silver to the LORD for my son’s benefit, to make a graven image and…

    • Isaiah 31:7

      For on that day, every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold that your own hands have sinfully made.

    • Isaiah 46:6

      They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Deuteronomy

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 9 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 9 →