You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their gods. You shall destroy their name out of that place.
Parallel Translations
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You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their gods. You shall destroy their name out of that place.
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And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.
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And ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods; and ye shall destroy their name out of that place.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 12:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 33:52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their stone idols, destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places.
- Judges 2:2 You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice. Why have you done this?
- Zechariah 13:2 It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will also cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land.
- Psalms 16:4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names on my lips.
- Exodus 23:13 “Be careful to do all things that I have said to you; and don’t invoke the name of other gods or even let them be heard out of your mouth.
- Deuteronomy 7:5 But you shall deal with them like this: you shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their engraved images with fire.
- 1 Kings 15:13 He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah. Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron.
- 2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because in those days the children of Israel burned incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan.
- 2 Kings 23:14 He broke in pieces the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their places with men’s bones.
- 2 Chronicles 19:3 Nevertheless there are good things found in you, in that you have put away the Asheroth out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God.”
- 2 Chronicles 31:1 Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the Asherah poles, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, also in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.
- 2 Chronicles 34:3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, the Asherah poles, the engraved images, and the molten images.
- Jeremiah 17:2 Even their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles by the green trees on the high hills.
- Hosea 2:17 For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name.
- Micah 5:14 I will uproot your Asherah poles out from among you; and I will destroy your cities.
- Revelation 13:1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads, blasphemous names.
- 2 Chronicles 14:3 for he took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars, cut down the Asherah poles,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Wherein they sacrificed to their idols.
Wherein they sacrificed to their idols.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Deu 12:3 And ye shall overthrow their altars, and…
Deu 12:3 And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.
Ver. 3. And ye shall hew down.] As was here done notably in King Edward VI’s days, notwithstanding the withstandings of the rude rabble, which more regarded commotioners than commissioners, and were more guided by rage than by right, &c. {a} So that as one Mr Body, a commissioner, was pulling down images in Cornwall, he was suddenly stabbed into the body, by a priest, with a knife.
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{a} Life of Edward VI, by Sir John Heywood.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Their pillars, upon which their images were set. The…
Their pillars, upon which their images were set. The names of them, i.e. all the memorials of them, and the very names given to the places from the idols.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And you shall overthrow their altars,.... Which were of…
And you shall overthrow their altars,.... Which were of stone, as Jarchi observes; whereas the altar ordered to be made by the Lord, before the altar of burnt offering in the tabernacle was made, was of earth, Exo 20:24 these were to be demolished, lest the Israelites should be tempted to make use of them; and besides, the Lord would not have any remains of idolatry in the land where his tabernacle and worship were, as being abominable to him:
and break down their pillars; or statues erected to the honour of their idols; according to Jarchi it was a single stone hewed out at first for the basis of a statue (y); perhaps such as were called Baetulia, in imitation of the stone Jacob set up for a pillar at Bethel, Gen 28:18.
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and burn their groves with fire; which were planted about their temples, and under which also their idols were placed, and where they privately committed the most abominable lewdness under the notion of religion. The Targum of Jonathan renders the word "abominations", meaning idols; and so Jarchi interprets it by a tree that is worshipped; See Gill on Deu 7:5.
and you shall hew down the graven images of their gods; which were made of wood:
and destroy the names of them out of the place; by never making any mention of them in common discourse, and by changing the names of places called from them; and especially by destroying all the relics of them, and whatever appertained to them, which might lead to the mention of them; see Hos 2:17.
(y) Misn. Avodah Zarah, c. 3. sect. 7.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Pillars - Upon which their images were set. Names…
Pillars - Upon which their images were set. Names - That is, all the memorials of them, and the very names given to the places from the idols.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. Ye shall overthrow their altars] Where unholy…
Verse 3. Ye shall overthrow their altars] Where unholy sacrifices have been offered; and break their pillars, probably meaning statues and representations of their gods cut out of stone; and burn their groves, such as those about the temple of Ashtaroth, the Canaanitish Venus, whose impure rites were practised in different parts of the inclosures or groves round her temples; and ye shall hew down the graven images, probably implying all images carved out of wood; and destroy the names of them, which were no doubt at first graven on the stones, and carved on the trees, and then applied to the surrounding districts. In various instances the names of whole mountains, valleys, and districts were borrowed from the gods worshipped there.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Their groves - Render their idols of wood: and…
Their groves - Render their idols of wood: and see the Deu 7:5 note.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Statues. The most ancient idols were not finely carved,…
Statues. The most ancient idols were not finely carved, but only rough stones. The Phrygian goddess, sent to Rome by Attalus, was a small dark-coloured stone of this nature. (Arnob., contra Gentes. 8.) --- The Venus of the Arabs was but a stone in the form of a pyramid. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain And ye shall overthrow their altars--piles of turf or…
And ye shall overthrow their altars--piles of turf or small stones.
and break their pillars--Before the art of sculpture was known, the statues of idols were only rude blocks of colored stones.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Their groves — More properly, their images of…
3. Their groves — More properly, their images of Asherah. Comp. Deu_7:5; Deu_16:21; also Exo_34:13.
And destroy the names of them — This close connexion of names and places is found in Phoenician and Canaanite mythology, which is remarkable for the number of its local divinities: and it helps to explain why Moses, not content with ordering the destruction of the pagan sanctuaries, insisted upon the abolition of the names. The Israelites were to destroy all that might suggest idol-worship. The Puritans claimed to be carrying out the spirit of this command when, in their iconoclastic zeal, they almost despoiled the churches and cathedrals of works of art in the form of statues and paintings.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) Destroy the names.—The substitution in later times of…
(3) Destroy the names.—The substitution in later times of bosheth for baal in the names Jerubbaal (Jerubbesheth), Eshbaal (Ishbosheth), Meribbaal (Mephibosheth), is a curious example of the literal fulfilment of this command, or, perhaps, rather of the command in Exo_23:13, of which the spirit and purport agree with this.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Moses is still talking to the people of Israel.
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You must break down their altars
"you must pull apart the altars of those nations" or "you must destroy the altars of those nations"
dash in pieces
"break into pieces" or "shatter"
destroy their name
Here "their name" represents "the memory of them." AT: "destroy them so completely that no one will remember them" or "destroy anything that represents these false gods" (See: Metonymy)
that place
This refers to each place where the nations worshiped their gods.
You will not worship Yahweh your God like that
"You should not worship Yahweh your God like those nations worshiped their gods"
translationWords
altar
column
Asherah
image
false god
name
worship
Yahweh
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 12:3 sacred pillars: See study note on 7:5. •…
12:3 sacred pillars: See study note on 7:5. • Asherah poles: The feminine counterpart to the sacred pillar was a wooden pole dedicated to the mother goddess, Asherah. • erase the names: With the destruction of all idols and every vestige of pagan worship, the names of these deities would be forgotten. Future generations would know nothing of them (see also study note on 7:24).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.