Exodus 20:4

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Exodus 20:2–6 · Berean Standard Bible

2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 You shall have no other gods before Me.

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.

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,

6 but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Hebrew words

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

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Cross-references

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

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 32:8

How 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.’”

Exodus 32:23

They told me, ‘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 34:17

You shall make no molten gods for yourselves.

Leviticus 19:4

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

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 the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 4:15

So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful

Deuteronomy 4:16

that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female,

Deuteronomy 4:17

of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air,

Deuteronomy 4:18

or of any creature that crawls on the ground or fish that is in the waters below.

Deuteronomy 4:19

When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

Deuteronomy 4:23

Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you.

Deuteronomy 4:24

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 4:25

After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger—

Deuteronomy 5:8

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.

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!’

1 Kings 12:28

After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

2 Chronicles 33:7

Manasseh even took the carved image he had made and set it up in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever.

Psalms 97:7

All worshipers of images are put to shame— those who boast in idols. Worship Him, all you gods!

Psalms 115:4

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

Psalms 115:5

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

Psalms 115:6

they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell;

Psalms 115:7

they have hands, but cannot feel; they have feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even clear their throats.

Psalms 115:8

Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.

Psalms 135:15

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

Psalms 135:16

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

Psalms 135:17

they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths.

Psalms 135:18

Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.

Isaiah 40:18

To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him?

Isaiah 40:19

To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

Isaiah 40:20

To one bereft of an offering who chooses wood that will not rot, who seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple?

Isaiah 42:8

I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.

Isaiah 42:17

But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.

Isaiah 44:9

All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.

Isaiah 44:10

Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing?

Isaiah 44:11

Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame.

Isaiah 44:12

The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.

Isaiah 44:13

The woodworker extends a measuring line; he marks it out with a stylus; he shapes it with chisels and outlines it with a compass. He fashions it in the likeness of man, like man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.

Isaiah 44:14

He cuts down cedars or retrieves a cypress or oak. He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.

Isaiah 44:15

It serves as fuel for man. He takes some of it to warm himself, and he kindles a fire and bakes his bread; he even fashions it into a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.

Isaiah 44:16

He burns half of it in the fire, and he roasts meat on that half. He eats the roast and is satisfied. Indeed, he warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”

Isaiah 44:17

From the rest he makes a god, his graven image. He bows down to it and worships; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

Isaiah 44:18

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

Isaiah 44:19

And no one considers in his heart, no one has the knowledge or insight to say, “I burned half of it in the fire, and I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make something detestable with the rest of it? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

Isaiah 44:20

He feeds on ashes. His deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

Isaiah 45:16

They will all be put to shame and humiliated; the makers of idols will depart together in disgrace.

Isaiah 46:5

To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal? To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike?

Isaiah 46:6

They 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.

Isaiah 46:7

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 answer; it saves no one from his troubles.

Isaiah 46:8

Remember this and be brave; take it to heart, you transgressors!

Jeremiah 10:3

For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.

Jeremiah 10:4

They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.

Jeremiah 10:5

Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”

Jeremiah 10:8

But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

Jeremiah 10:9

Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz— the work of a craftsman from the hands of a goldsmith. Their clothes are blue and purple, all fashioned by skilled workers.

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.

Jeremiah 10:15

They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.

Jeremiah 10:16

The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance— the LORD of Hosts is His name.

Ezekiel 8:10

So I went in and looked, and engraved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and detestable beast, along with all the idols of the house of Israel.

Acts 17:29

Therefore, 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.

Acts 19:26

And 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.

Acts 19:27

There is danger not only that our business will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and her majesty deposed—she who is worshiped by all the province of Asia and the whole world.”

Acts 19:28

When the men heard this, they were enraged and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Acts 19:29

Soon the whole city was in disarray. They rushed together into the theatre, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.

Acts 19:30

Paul wanted to go before the assembly, but the disciples would not allow him.

Acts 19:31

Even some of Paul’s friends who were officials of the province of Asia sent word to him, begging him not to venture into the theatre.

Acts 19:32

Meanwhile the assembly was in turmoil. Some were shouting one thing and some another, and most of them did not even know why they were there.

Acts 19:33

The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward to explain himself, and he motioned for silence so he could make his defense to the people.

Acts 19:34

But when they realized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Acts 19:35

Finally the city clerk quieted the crowd and declared, “Men of Ephesus, doesn’t everyone know that the city of Ephesus is guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?

Romans 1:23

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Revelation 9:20

Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

Revelation 13:14

Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived.

Revelation 13:15

The second beast was permitted to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship it to be killed.

Revelation 14:9

And a third angel followed them, calling out in a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives its mark on his forehead or on his hand,

Revelation 14:10

he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.

Revelation 14:11

And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. Day and night there is no rest for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”

Revelation 16:2

So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and loathsome, malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.