Exodus 23:32
in Exodus 23You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
KJV
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
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This verse in Exodus 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThou shalt make no covenant with them,.... A covenant of peace, a league, a confederacy, so as to take them to be their allies and friends; but they were always to consider them as their enemies, until they had made an utter end of them; though the Gibeonites by craft and guile obtained a league of them; but the methods they took to get it show they had some knowledge of this law, that the Israelites might not, or at least would not, make any league or covenant with the inhabitants of the land of Canaan.
This site's exposition
Thou shalt make no covenant with them
on Exodus 23:32-33
The Book of the Covenant ends with a ban on treaties and a reason for it, that the gods of the land become a snare. Judges 2:1 to 2:3 has the angel of the LORD at Bochim quoting this instruction back to Israel, saying they had not obeyed his voice and that the gods of the land would be a snare, which lands on both verse 21 and verse 33. Moses writes all these words down at 24:4 and reads them to the people at 24:7, and they answer that all the LORD has said they will do.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. 7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. 8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Thus they must avoid the reproach of intimacy with the worshippers of false gods and the danger of being drawn to worship with them. By familiar converse with idolaters, their dread and detestation of the sin would wear off; they would think it no harm, in compliment to their friends, to pay some respect to their gods, and so by degrees would be drawn into the fatal snare.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Thou shalt make no covenant with them - They were incurable idolaters, and the cup of their iniquity was full. And had the Israelites contracted any alliance with them, either sacred or civil, they would have enticed them into their idolatries, to which the Jews were at all times most unhappily prone; and as God intended that they should be the preservers of the true religion till the coming of the Messiah, hence he strictly forbade them to tolerate idolatry.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִכְרֹ֥ת | tikhrot | you must make | H3772 → | 288 times |
| לָהֶ֛ם | lahem | to them | ||
| וְלֵאלֹֽהֵיהֶ֖ם | veleloheihem | and to gods their | H430 → | 2601 times |
| בְּרִֽית׃ | berit | a covenant | H1285 → | 284 times |
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תִכְרֹ֥תyou must make
tikhrotH3772 →288 times
לָהֶ֛םto them
lahem
וְלֵאלֹֽהֵיהֶ֖םand to gods their
veleloheihemH430 →2601 times
בְּרִֽית׃a covenant
beritH1285 →284 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
Psalms 106:35but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 15:33
Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Judges 3:5–6
Thus the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- Judges 2:2–3
and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 15:33
Through
Exodus 34:12Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, lest they become a snare in your midst.
it leads to
- Exodus 23:32–33
You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 23:32–33
Through
Deuteronomy 7:16You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 7:2
and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 23:33
They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
- Judges 8:27
From all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
- Deuteronomy 19:13
You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.
- Deuteronomy 7:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.