Exodus 20:23

Read in context

Exodus 20:21–25 · Berean Standard Bible

21 And the people stood at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

22 Then the LORD said to Moses, “This is what you are to tell the Israelites: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.

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

24 You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

25 Now if you make an altar of stones for Me, you must not build it with stones shaped by tools; for if you use a chisel on it, you will defile it.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Study Exodus 20:23

Read the commentary on Exodus 20

Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Exodus 20:3

You shall have no other gods before Me.

Exodus 20:4

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.

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 generations of those who hate Me,

Exodus 32:1

Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!”

Exodus 32:2

So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold earrings that are on your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”

Exodus 32:3

Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron.

Exodus 32:4

He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

1 Samuel 5:4

But when they got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the LORD, with his head and his hands broken off and lying on the threshold. Only the torso remained.

1 Samuel 5:5

That is why, to this day, the priests of Dagon and all who enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on the threshold.

2 Kings 17:33

They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods according to the customs of the nations from which they had been carried away.

2 Kings 17:41

So these nations worshiped the LORD but also served their idols, and to this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.

Ezekiel 20:39

And as for you, O house of Israel, this is what the Lord GOD says: Go and serve your idols, every one of you. But afterward, you will surely listen to Me, and you will no longer defile My holy name with your gifts and idols.

Ezekiel 43:8

When they placed their threshold next to My threshold and their doorposts beside My doorposts, with only a wall between Me and them, they defiled My holy name by the abominations they committed. Therefore I have consumed them in My anger.

Daniel 5:4

As they drank the wine, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

Daniel 5:23

Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.

Zephaniah 1:5

those who bow on the rooftops to worship the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear by the LORD but also swear by Milcom,

1 Corinthians 10:21

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.

1 Corinthians 10:22

Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

2 Corinthians 6:14

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

2 Corinthians 6:15

What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

2 Corinthians 6:16

What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”

Colossians 2:18

Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.

Colossians 2:19

He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.

1 John 5:20

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

1 John 5:21

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Revelation 22:15

But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.