Exodus 32:20 BSB — MannaFest

Exodus 32:20

Then 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.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

KJV

And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

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Commentary

1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

He took the calf - and burnt - and ground it to powder, etc. - How truly contemptible must the object of their idolatry appear when they were obliged to drink their god, reduced to powder and strewed on the water! “But,” says an objector, “how could gold, the most ductile of all metals, and the most ponderous, be stamped into dust and strewed on water?” In Deu 9:21, this matter is fully explained.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

19 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַיִּקַּ֞ח	vai.yi.Kach	and he took	H3947 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
הָעֵ֨גֶל	ha.'E.gel	the calf	H5695 →
אֲשֶׁ֤ר	'a.Sher	which	H834 →
עָשׂוּ֙	'a.Su	they had made	H6213 →
וַיִּשְׂרֹ֣ף	vai.yis.Rof	and he burned [it]	H8313 →
בָּאֵ֔שׁ	ba.'Esh	with <the> fire	H784 →
וַיִּטְחַ֖ן	vai.yit.Chan	and he ground [it]	H2912 →
עַ֣ד	'ad	until	H5704 →
אֲשֶׁר־	'a.Sher-	that	H834 →
דָּ֑ק	Dak	it was fine	H1854 →
וַיִּ֙זֶר֙	vai.Yi.zer	and he scattered [it]	H2219 →
עַל־	'al-	on	H5921 →
פְּנֵ֣י	pe.Nei	[the] surface of	H6440 →
הַמַּ֔יִם	ha.Ma.yim	the water	H4325 →
וַיַּ֖שְׁקְ	vai.Yashk	and he made drink [it]	H8248 →
אֶת־	'et-	<obj.>	H853 →
בְּנֵ֥י	be.Nei	[the] people of	H1121 →
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃	Yis.ra.'El	Israel	H3478 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Deuteronomy 7:5
Instead, 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.
leads to
- Exodus 23:24
  You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.
- Exodus 34:13
  Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.
- Deuteronomy 12:2–3
  Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.
Through
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…
leads to
- Deuteronomy 17:1
  You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep with any defect or serious flaw, for that is detestable to the LORD your God.
- 1 Chronicles 14:12
  There the Philistines abandoned their gods, and David ordered that they be burned in the fire.
- Deuteronomy 12:3
  Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.
- Joshua 7:21
  When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in…
Through
2 Kings 23:6
He 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…
leads to
- 2 Kings 23:15
  He even pulled down the altar at Bethel, the high place set up by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. Then he burned the high place, ground it to powder,…