and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.
Not to practice any form of idolatry with the celestial bodies
The cited verse
The Hebrew (Masoretic Text)
וּפֶן־תִּשָּׂא עֵינֶיךָ הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וְרָאִיתָ אֶת־הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְאֶת־הַיָּרֵחַ וְאֶת־הַכּוֹכָבִים כֹּל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם וְנִדַּחְתָּ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתָ לָהֶם וַעֲבַדְתָּם
In Maimonides’ words
How Maimonides defines this commandment in his Sefer HaMitzvot — his own words, shown as a primary source.
שהזהירנו מהשתחוות לע"ז. והוא אמרו יתברך לא תשתחוה להם, והוא מבואר שאמרנו ע"ז נרצה בו כל מה שיעבד זולת האל. ואין הכונה איסור השתחואה לבדה לא זולתה, אמנם זכר דרך אחד מדרכי העבודה רוצה לומר ההשתחויה, וכן אנחנו מוזהרים מהקריב להם ולנסך ולקטר, ומי שעבר על אחד מאלו והשתחוה או הקריב או נסך או קטר חייב סקילה. ולשון מכילתא זובח לאלהים יחרם עונש שמענו אזהרה מנין תלמוד לומר לא תשתחוה להם ולא תעבדם זביחה בכלל היתה ויצתה ללמד מה זביחה מיוחדת שכיוצא בה עובדים לשמים וחייבים עליה בין שהוא עובדו בין שאינו עובדו, אף כל שכיוצא בו עובדים לשמים חייבין עליו בין עובדו בין שאינו עובדו. וענין המאמר זה, כי אלו הארבעה מינין מן העבודהה, והם ההשתחויה והנסוך והזביחה והקטור שבהם נצטוינו שנעבוד האל יתברך, כל מי שיעבוד ע"ז באחת מהם חייב סקילה אף אם היה זה הנעבד אין דרכו שיעבד באחד מהן, והוא שקראוהו שלא כדרכה, רוצה לומר שאפילו עבד אותה שלא כדרך עבודתה אחר שעבדה באחד מאלו חייב סקילה כשיהיה מזיד, והוא בכרת אם לא ידעו בית דין או לא יעשו בו העונש, ואם היה שוגג יקריב קרבן. וכן כשקבלו עליו באלוה באיזה דבר שקבלו עליו חייב. וכבר נכפלה אזהרה זו רוצה לומר איסור עבודתם באחד מאלו הארבעה מינין ואפילו שלא כדרכה. והוא אמרו יתעלה ולא יזבחו עוד את זבחיהם לשעירים. ולשון ספרי אין שעירים אלא שדים. ובגמרא זבחים (דף ק"ו) נתבאר שלאו זה אמנם הוא בשוחט לע"ז אפילו לא תהיה השחיטה דרך עבודתה. אמרו מנין לזובח בהמה למרקוליס שהוא חייב שנאמר ולא יזבחו עוד אם אינו ענין לכדרכה דכתיב איכה יעבדו הגוים האלה תנהו ענין לשלא כדרכה, והעובר עליו אם יהיה מזיד בכרת וסקילה כמו שאמרנו, ובשוגג יקריב קרבן. ולשון התורה זובח לאלהים יחרם. וכבר התבארו דיני מצוה זו בפרק שביעי מסנהדרין. (וישמע יתרו, מדע הלכות ע"ז פ"ג):
That He prohibited us from bowing to an idol. And that is His, may He be blessed, saying, "You shall not bow to them" (Exodus 20:5). And it is clear that by our saying, idol, we mean anything worshipped besides God. And the intention is not only bowing, and nothing else. Indeed, He mentioned one of the ways of worship - meaning to say, bowing - but we are also prohibited from sacrificing to them, offering libations and burning incense [to them]. And one who has transgressed one of these and bowed, sacrificed, offered libations or burned incense is liable for stoning. And the language of the Mekhilta (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 22:19) is, "'One who sacrifices to gods shall be proscribed' (Exodus 22:19) - we have [thus] heard the punishment. From where [do we know] the prohibition? [Hence] we learn to say, 'You shall not bow to them and you shall not worship them.' Sacrifice was included (in serving), and it was singled out to teach [that] just as sacrificing is distinctive, in that we worship the Heavens in a similar way and one is liable for it, whether he worships it or he does not not worship it - so too, one is liable for all the ways that are similar to how we worship the Heavens, whether he worships it or he does not not worship it." And the content of this statement is that these four types of worship - being bowing, sacrificing, offering libations and burning incense - through which we have been commanded that we worship God, may He be blessed: Anyone who worships an idol through one of them is liable for stoning, even if this is not one of the ways of worshipping this thing that was worshipped. And that is what is called, not in the way of its worship. [Yet] since he worshipped in one of these ways, he is liable for stoning if he was volitional; excision if the court did not know about him or they did not execute the punishment; or to bring a sacrifice if he was inadvertent. And likewise when one accepts something as a god in a way of accepting. And this prohibition has already been repeated - meaning to say, the prohibition of their worship through one of these four ways, and even [when] it is not in its way. And that is His, may He be exalted, saying, "And that they may offer their sacrifices no more to the goats" (Leviticus 17:7). And the language of the Sifra (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 9:8) is, "'Goats,' is nothing other than demons." And in the Gemara, Zevachim (Zevachim 106a), it is explained, however, that this negative commandment is with slaughtering to the idol, even if the slaughtering is not the way of its worship. They said, "From where [do we know about] one who slaughters an animal as an offering to Mercury, that he is liable (even though this is not its way of worship)? As it is stated, 'And that they may offer their sacrifices no more.' If its content is not [applied to] in its way [of worship], as [that is already derived from] its being written, 'How do these nations serve' (Deuteronomy 12:30); then apply its content to [worshipping] not in its way." And one who transgresses it volitionally [gets] excision and stoning - as we said - and must bring a sacrifice if it was inadvertent. And the language of Scripture is, "One who sacrifices to gods shall be proscribed." And the laws of this commandment have already been explained in the seventh chapter of Sanhedrin. (See Parashat Yitro; Mishneh Torah, Foreign Worship and Customs of the Nations 3.)
Hebrew: Sefer HaMitzvot, Warsaw 1883 (public domain). English: Sefaria Edition, trans. Rabbi Francis Nataf, 2021 (CC0). Via Sefaria; translator’s footnotes omitted.
Literary form: a prohibition
Applicability
How the catalog describes where and when this commandment applies. These are independent descriptions, not a verdict on which laws still count.
- Recorded as practiced today
Classical halakhic consequences
The consequences the classical halakhah attaches to this commandment, grouped by who imposes them. Where a category has none recorded, that absence is itself meaningful.
Imposed by a court
- Death by stoning (sekilah)
At the hands of Heaven
- Karet — being 'cut off'
Ritual remedy
No ritual remedy is recorded.
How the streams of Judaism treat this commandment
The streams of Judaism read the same commandment differently — an ongoing plurality, not a ranking. Each position below is reported as the catalog records it; none is presented as the correct one.
- Orthodox Binding
- Conservative Binding
- Reform Kept as an ethical principle
- Reconstructionist Kept as an ethical principle
- Karaite Binding
24 of 613 commandments have been examined in depth so far — this one is queued.
How later traditions received this commandment
How later traditions read or reworked this commandment, each attributed to its own voice. The catalog’s own classification of each reception is shown as it records it, never adopted as GEBible’s.
Rabbinic aggadah
- Sifre Deuteronomy 148 expanded it homiletically
Philo of Alexandria
- De Specialibus Legibus 1.13-20 The catalog describes this reception as: rationalized critique
- De Decalogo 52-58 The catalog describes this reception as: rationalized critique
Josephus
- Antiquities 1.155-156 rationalized it
The New Testament
- Acts 7:42-43 rejected it polemically Stephen's speech cites Israel's worship of the 'host of heaven' as apostasy (quoting Amos 5:25-27)
- Romans 1:25 rejected it polemically Paul condemns those who worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, deploying creation-vs-Creator logic against idolatry
The Church Fathers
- Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 1.6-9 rejected it polemically
The Qur'an and hadith
- Q 41:37 carried a parallel
Beside the older legal codes of its world
The commandment set beside the ancient Near-Eastern legal collections scholars compare it to — a descriptive comparison, not a claim of dependence.
- enuma elish Marduk assigns celestial bodies (moon, stars) as divine functionaries with prescribed movements and roles — the very astral entities Deuteronomy prohibits worshipping are here presented as divine in their own right Relationship to the parallel: polemical contrast Tablet V lines 1–46 Lambert, Babylonian Creation Myths (Eisenbrauns, 2013)
- neo assyrian vassal treaties Shamash (sun), Sin (moon), and Ishtar (Venus/stars) invoked as divine witnesses to the treaty — the 'host of heaven' that Deuteronomy prohibits worshipping functions as the highest divine council in the Neo-Assyrian imperial religious framework Relationship to the parallel: polemical contrast VTE lines 414–430 (divine witness list: Shamash, Sin, Ishtar, etc.) Parpola and Watanabe, Neo-Assyrian Treaties and Loyalty Oaths (SAA 2, 1988)
Where this commandment meets modern human-rights frameworks
One modern normative lens, attributed to it — not GEBible’s assessment. Each row names the framework it measures against and the catalog’s own classification of the relation.
This framework catalogues tensions; it records agreement in only one of its entries. The near-total tension rate is the shape of the instrument, not a finding.
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general principle
This framework classifies the relation as a direct contradiction.
The commandment prohibits and penalizes the worship of celestial bodies — a form of religious practice attested across ancient cultures; the modern principle of religious freedom holds that individuals and communities may not be subject to criminal sanction for holding or practicing non-mainstream religious beliefs.
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Article 18 (freedom of religion)
This framework classifies the relation as a direct contradiction.
UDHR Article 18 guarantees everyone the right to freedom of religion, including the freedom to manifest religion in worship; the commandment's capital sanction for venerating the sun, moon, or stars directly contradicts this protected right.
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general principle
This framework classifies the relation as a direct contradiction.
Modern penal proportionality precludes capital punishment for non-violent religious practice; stoning for bowing to celestial bodies represents a categorical mismatch between the gravity of the sanction and the nature of the act.
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Article 6 (right to life)
This framework classifies the relation as a direct contradiction.
ICCPR Article 6 requires that capital punishment, where retained, be applied only to the 'most serious crimes'; execution for an act of religious veneration does not meet this threshold under any standard of international human rights law.
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rabbinic tradition
This framework classifies the relation as abrogated in practice.
Capital jurisdiction over idolatry lapsed with the dissolution of the Sanhedrin following the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE); the de jure norm remains but has not been enforced by any Jewish court in nearly two millennia.