Exodus 20:3
in Exodus 20You shall have no other gods before Me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
KJV
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
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This verse in Exodus 20
Commentary
19 notes on this verseGod commands us by His prophet not to esteem any new God to be God, and not to worship any strange God. Now it is clear that that is called new which is not from everlasting, and on the contrary, that is called everlasting which is not new.
This site's exposition
Thou shalt have no other gods
The first demand is exclusive loyalty, and it is put to a people who have just watched judgment fall on the gods of Egypt at Exodus 12:12. The phrase before me reads in the Hebrew as before my face, which the older commentators take to mean in my presence rather than ahead of me in rank. Within weeks of hearing this the people make a calf and say these be thy gods, O Israel, at Exodus 32:4.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church5 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 2 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Note that latria is worship owed to God alone and is rendered in such a way that it is owed to no other. God prohibits the worship of others in the negative, and by this he implied the worship of God in the affirmative, which …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 3 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The Jews sometimes reproach us and say that we do not properly observe the first commandment. Concerning the first statement, namely: "You shall not have strange gods," they say that the Lord says: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one;" and you posit …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
In the first tablet are contained the commandments ordering us toward God: but God is the Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. To the Father is attributed majesty, to the Son truth, and to the Holy Spirit goodness. In the Father there is supreme …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The first plague was of blood, by which idolaters were struck, because the Psalm says of them: "They poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan."
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
And from this fact, that He is the pious worshiper of Himself, the true witness to Himself, and the holy lover of Himself, there comes down from heaven a threefold radiation in the mind, according to the three commandments of the first tablet. For the …
12 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church5 voices
A commentator
BonaventureDisputed Questions on the Mystery of the Trinity, Question 2 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Concerning the first, we proceed as follows and it is shown that the divine being is supremely one. And that this is so, faith and divine Scripture sufficiently proclaim, Exodus twenty: Your God is one God; and Deuteronomy thirty-two: See therefore that I alone am, …
A commentator
BonaventureDisputed Questions on the Mystery of the Trinity, Question 2 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
It must be said that this truth, that God is one, is a truth not only believable, but also intelligible: since it is necessary and certain not only from the testimony of Scripture and the illumination of grace, which is found in faith; but it …
The entire law of Christ depends upon charity. And charity depends on two precepts, one of which concerns loving God and the other concerns loving our neighbor. Now God, in delivering the law to Moses, gave him Ten Commandments written upon two tablets of stone. …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The first plague was of blood, by which idolaters were struck, because the Psalm says of them: "They poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan."
It is necessary that certain moral precepts order us toward God: and certain toward our neighbor according to the twofold precept of charity; which the Holy Spirit willed to intimate through the mystery of the two tablets, and therefore they are said to be written …
The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices
By redeeming them, he acquired a farther right to rule them; they owed their service to him, to whom they owed their freedom. And thus, Christ, having rescued us out of the bondage of sin, is entitled to the best service we can do him.
That it is a sin that dares him to his face, which he cannot, will not, overlook. The second commandment is concerning the ordinances of worship, or the way in which God will be worshipped, which it is fit himself should appoint. The prohibition; we are forbidden to worship even the true God by images, ver. 4, 5.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
This was the sin they were most in danger of now that the world was so overspread with polytheism, which yet could not be rooted out effectually but by the gospel of Christ. The sin against this commandment which we are most in danger of is giving the glory and honour to any creature which are due to God only.
This was the sin they were most in danger of now that the world was so overspread with polytheism, which yet could not be rooted out effectually but by the gospel of Christ. The sin against this commandment which we are most in danger of is giving the glory and honour to any creature which are due to God only.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Thou shalt have no other gods before me - אלהים אחרים elohim acherim, no strange gods - none that thou art not acquainted with, none who has not given thee such proofs of his power and godhead as I have done in delivering thee from the Egyptians, dividing the Red Sea, bringing water out of the rock, quails into the desert, manna from heaven to feed thee, and the pillar of cloud to direct, enlighten, and shield thee.
Modern Voices1 voice
As it was, while the whole world melted into this mass of confused mythology, this Deity who is called tribal and narrow, precisely because he was what is called tribal and narrow, preserved the primary religion of all mankind. He was tribal enough to be …
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹֽ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִהְיֶֽה־ | yihyeh- | it will be[long] | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לְךָ֛֩ | lekha | to <the> you | ||
| אֱלֹהִ֥֨ים | ʾelohim | gods | H430 → | 2601 times |
| אֲחֵרִ֖֜ים | ʾacherim | other | H312 → | 166 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פָּנָֽ֗יַ׃ | panai | face my | H6440 → | 2123 times |
לֹֽ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִהְיֶֽה־it will be[long]
yihyeh-H1961 →3559 times
לְךָ֛֩to <the> you
lekha
אֱלֹהִ֥֨יםgods
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
אֲחֵרִ֖֜יםother
ʾacherimH312 →166 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פָּנָֽ֗יַ׃face my
panaiH6440 →2123 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Deuteronomy 6:5And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
it leads to
- Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
- Matthew 22:37
Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
- Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Deuteronomy 10:12
And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your…
- Deuteronomy 30:6
The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
- Mark 12:30
Through
Matthew 4:10“Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus declared. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 6:13–14
Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name.
- Deuteronomy 10:20
You are to fear the LORD your God and serve Him. Hold fast to Him and take your oaths in His name.
- Joshua 24:14
Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
- Deuteronomy 6:13–14
Where this verse is studied
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About Exodus
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 2; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 3; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21; Bonaventure, Disputed Questions on the Mystery of the Trinity, Question 2; Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Part 5; GK Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, Ch. 4 (1925); Gregory of Nyssa, ON THE FAITH; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Explanation of the Ten Commandments.