Numbers 33:52
in Numbers 33you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places:
KJV
Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:
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This verse in Numbers 33
Commentary
5 notes on this verseYe shall - destroy all their pictures - משכיתם maskiyotham, from שחה sachah, to be like, or resemble, either pictures, carved work, or embroidery, as far as these things were employed to exhibit the abominations of idolatry. Molten images צלמי מסכתם tsalmey massechotham, metallic talismanical figures, made under certain constellations, and supposed in consequence to be possessed of some extraordinary influences and virtues.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Drive out - Not by banishing, but by destroying them. Pictures - Which seem to have been stones curiously engraven, and set up for worship. High Places - Chapels, altars, groves, or other means of worship there set up.
14 And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. 15 And they departed from Rephidim, and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai. 16 And they removed from the desert of Sinai, and pitched at Kibroth-hattaavah.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you--not, however, by expulsion, but extermination (De 7:1). and destroy all their pictures--obelisks for idolatrous worship (see on Le 26:1). and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places--by metonymy for all their groves and altars, and materials of worship on the tops of hills.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְה֨וֹרַשְׁתֶּ֜ם | vehorashtem | and you will dispossess | H3423 → | 231 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| יֹשְׁבֵ֤י | yoshevei | [the] inhabitants of | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| מִפְּנֵיכֶ֔ם | mipeneikhem | from before you | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| וְאִ֨בַּדְתֶּ֔ם | veibadtem | and you will destroy | H6 → | 184 times |
| אֵ֖ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מַשְׂכִּיֹּתָ֑ם | maskiyotam | carved images their | H4906 → | |
| וְאֵ֨ת | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| צַלְמֵ֤י | tzalmei | [the] images of | H6754 → | |
| מַסֵּֽכֹתָם֙ | masekhotam | molten metal their | H4541 → | |
| תְּאַבֵּ֔דוּ | teabedu | you will destroy | H6 → | 184 times |
| וְאֵ֥ת | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בָּמֹתָ֖ם | bamotam | high places their | H1116 → | |
| תַּשְׁמִֽידוּ׃ | tashmidu | you will demolish | H8045 → |
וְה֨וֹרַשְׁתֶּ֜םand you will dispossess
vehorashtemH3423 →231 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
יֹשְׁבֵ֤י[the] inhabitants of
yosheveiH3427 →1079 times
הָאָ֙רֶץ֙the land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
מִפְּנֵיכֶ֔םfrom before you
mipeneikhemH6440 →2123 times
וְאִ֨בַּדְתֶּ֔םand you will destroy
veibadtemH6 →184 times
אֵ֖ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
מַשְׂכִּיֹּתָ֑םcarved images their
maskiyotamH4906 →
וְאֵ֨תand <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
צַלְמֵ֤י[the] images of
tzalmeiH6754 →
מַסֵּֽכֹתָם֙molten metal their
masekhotamH4541 →
תְּאַבֵּ֔דוּyou will destroy
teabeduH6 →184 times
וְאֵ֥תand <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
בָּמֹתָ֖םhigh places their
bamotamH1116 →
תַּשְׁמִֽידוּ׃you will demolish
tashmiduH8045 →
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
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…
it leads to
- Leviticus 19:4
Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God.
- 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…
- 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 20:4–5
You 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.
- 1 Corinthians 10:19–20
Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
- Leviticus 19:4
Through
Exodus 23:24You 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.
it leads to
- Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
- Deuteronomy 12:30–31
be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”
- Exodus 20:5
Through
Judges 2:2and 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?
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 7:2–4
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.
- Deuteronomy 7:2–4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies8
On this verse
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.