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Exodus 34:17

in Exodus 34

You shall make no molten gods for yourselves.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

KJV

Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

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This verse in Exodus 34

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

John Damascene

ON DIVINE IMAGES 8 · Written before 749.

"You shall make for yourself no molten gods." You see that he forbids the making of images because of idolatry and that it is impossible to make an image of the bodiless, invisible and uncircumscribed God. "You saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke.…" And St. Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, says, "Being therefore God's offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man."

This site's exposition

Thou shalt make thee no molten gods

The word molten occurs first at Exodus 32:4, of the calf, and it comes back here in the one commandment the renewed covenant repeats on its own. Of the ten words given in chapter 20, this is the one the people had already broken while Moses was up the mountain receiving them. The renewal names the failure instead of passing over it.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

); thou shalt not worship the true God by images." This was the sin they had lately fallen into, which therefore they are particularly cautioned against. Fences are here erected about these two precepts by two others: (1.) That they might not be tempted to worship other gods, they must not join in affinity or friendship with those that did (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+odd-straight-quotes

Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Moses bowed . . . and worshipped--In the East, people bow the head to royalty, and are silent when it passes by, while in the West, they take off their hats and shout.

The words behind it

5 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.

  • אֱלֹהֵ֥יgods of

    ʾeloheiH430 →2601 times

  • מַסֵּכָ֖הmolten metal

    masekhahH4541 →28 times

  • לֹ֥אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תַעֲשֶׂה־you must make

    taaseh-H6213 →2628 times

  • לָּֽךְ׃for <the> yourself

    lakh

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

Related verses

12 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.

Deuteronomy 27:15‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’7 worksLeviticus 19:4Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God.7 worksExodus 20:4You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.6 worksExodus 32:8How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”5 works1 Kings 14:9You have done more evil than all who came before you. You have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me, and you have flung Me behind your back.5 works2 Chronicles 28:2Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even made cast images of the Baals.5 works
The other 6 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 46:6–7They 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.3 worksLeviticus 26:1“You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or sacred pillar; you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am the LORD your God.3 worksActs 19:26And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.2 worksJeremiah 10:14Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.2 worksActs 17:29Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.2 worksJudges 17:3And 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 a molten idol. Therefore I will now return it to you.”2 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

    Jeremiah 10:14

    Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 135:16–18

      They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see;

    • Psalms 115:4–8

      Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

    • Isaiah 46:7–8

      They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not…

    • Habakkuk 2:18–19

      What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.

    • Isaiah 44:18–20

      They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.

  • Through

    Leviticus 19:4

    Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 20:23

      You are not to make any gods alongside Me; you are not to make for yourselves gods of silver or gold.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Leviticus 26:1

      “You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or sacred pillar; you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am…

    • Psalms 115:4–7

      Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 34 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Damascene, ON DIVINE IMAGES 8; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Exodus 34 →