You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, for Yahweh your God among you is a jealous God, lest the anger of Yahweh your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
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Deuteronomy 6:14-15 sits inside this longer paragraph.
It shall be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities which you didn’t build, and houses full of all good things which you didn’t fill, and cisterns dug out which you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees which you didn’t plant, and you shall eat and be full; then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall fear Yahweh your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name. You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, for Yahweh your God among you is a jealous God, lest the anger of Yahweh your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. You shall not tempt Yahweh your God, as you tempted him in Massah. You shall diligently keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you. You shall do that which is right and good in Yahweh’s sight, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as Yahweh has spoken.
Parallel Translations
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You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you,
for Yahweh your God among you is a jealous God, lest the anger of Yahweh your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
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Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
Show all 3 translations
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Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you;
for a jealous God, even the LORD thy God, is in the midst of thee; lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and He destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
Cross-references (21)
- Deuteronomy 4:24 (v15) For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
- Jeremiah 25:6 (v14) Don’t go after other gods to serve them or worship them, and don’t provoke me to anger with the work of your hands; then I will do you no…
- Exodus 20:5 (v15) you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on…
- Deuteronomy 13:7 (v14) of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the…
- 1 John 5:21 (v14) Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Show all 21 cross-references
- Deuteronomy 8:19 (v14) It shall be, if you shall forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today…
- Deuteronomy 11:28 (v14) and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn away out of the way which I command you today, to go…
- Deuteronomy 7:4 (v15) For that would turn away your sons from following me, that they may serve other gods. So Yahweh’s anger would be kindled against you, and…
- Deuteronomy 11:17 (v15) and Yahweh’s anger be kindled against you, and he shut up the sky so that there is no rain, and the land doesn’t yield its fruit; and you…
- Genesis 7:4 (v15) In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy every living thing that I have made…
- Exodus 32:12 (v15) Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface…
- Exodus 34:14-16 (v14) for you shall worship no other god; for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the…
- Numbers 32:10-15 (v15) Yahweh’s anger burned in that day, and he swore, saying, ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and…
- Deuteronomy 5:9 (v15) You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on…
- 1 Kings 13:34 (v15) This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the surface of the earth.
- 2 Chronicles 36:16 (v15) but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people,…
- Psalms 90:7 (v15) For we are consumed in your anger. We are troubled in your wrath.
- Psalms 90:11 (v15) Who knows the power of your anger, your wrath according to the fear that is due to you?
- Amos 3:2 (v15) “I have only chosen you of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.”
- Amos 9:8 (v15) Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will…
- 1 Corinthians 10:22 (v15) Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (9 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv14–15 Deu 6:14 Ye shall not go after other gods,…
Deu 6:14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which [are] round about you;
Ver. 14. Thou shalt not go] {See Trapp on "Exo 34:14"}
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 On v15 Among you, Heb. in the midst of you, to…
Among you, Heb. in the midst of you, to see and observe all your ways and your turnings aside to other gods.
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 On vv14–15 Ye shall not go after other gods,.... To serve…
Ye shall not go after other gods,.... To serve and worship them, and swear by them; and which indeed are no gods, only nominal and fictitious ones; idols which are nothing in the world, and ought to have no veneration and adoration given them; to go after them is to worship them, and this is to depart from the true God, and go a whoring after false deities:
of the gods of the people which are round about you; the gods of the Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, Philistines, and Egyptians; all of which had their peculiar deities.
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 On v15 Among you - Hebrew. In the midst of you,…
Among you - Hebrew. In the midst of you, to see and observe all your ways and your turnings aside to other Gods.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv14–15 Verse 14. Ye shall not go after other gods]…
Verse 14. Ye shall not go after other gods] The object of religious worship among every people, whether that object be true or false, is ever considered as the pattern or exemplar to his worshippers. Christians are termed the followers of God; they take God for their pattern, and walk - act, as he does. Hence we see the meaning of the terms in this verse: Ye shall not go after - ye shall not take false gods for your patterns. The Canaanites, Greeks, Romans, c., were a most impure people, because the objects of their worship were impure, and they went after them, i. e., were like their gods. This serves to show us that such as our Redeemer is, such should we be and indeed this is the uniform language of God to man: Be ye holy, for I am holy, Le 21:8; Be ye perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect, Mt 5:48.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v15 Deu 6:15-17. Is a jealous God among you —…
Deu 6:15-17. Is a jealous God among you — Hebrew, In the midst of you; to see and observe all your ways, and your turnings aside to other gods. Ye shall not tempt — Not provoke him, as the following instance explains. Sinners, especially presumptuous sinners, are said to tempt God; that is, to make a trial of God, whether he be so wise as to see their sins, so just, and true, and powerful, as to take vengeance on them, concerning which they are very apt to doubt, because of the present impunity and prosperity of many such persons. Ye shall diligently keep — Negligence will ruin us; but we cannot be saved without diligence.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv14–15 14. Ye shall not go after other gods, etc.]…
14. Ye shall not go after other gods, etc.] only states explicitly what is implicit in the preceding verses. As it is superfluous and introduces the Pl. form into a Sg. context, it may be confidently regarded as an editorial addition. Other gods, specially characteristic of D and deuteronomic passages in the Hexateuch, occurs some 20 times; for go after other gods see Deu_8:19, Deu_11:28, Deu_13:2, Deu_28:14, etc.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v15 (15) From off the face of the earth.—Literally, of…
(15) From off the face of the earth.—Literally, of the ground. Absolute extermination is threatened by the fire of His jealousy.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v14 Thou shalt not go after other gods.
Deu_6:14-15
Thou shalt not go after other gods.
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The forbidden path
In all our hearts there is a tendency to depart from God, to forget what He commands, to go after what He forbids. This forbidden path is described.
1. It is entered by many. The path of the people, the gods of the age. Idolatry of every kind is the root and nourisher of error and superstition--the expression and epitome of human nature--the foul dishonour to God and His supremacy. Go not after other gods to serve them and to worship them (Jer_25:6).
2. It is offensive to God. It stirs up Gods anger and rouses His jealousy. Bishop Patrick observes that we never find in law or prophets, anger, or fury, or jealousy, or indignation attributed to God, but upon occasion of idolatry.
3. It is destructive in its end. Destroy thee from off the face of the earth. Idolatry corrupts the body and petrifies the heart. Like a withering mildew it overspreads the earth and blights the nations. The warning voice from above should be heard: Ye shall bear the sins of your idols, and ye shall know that I am the Lord God. (J. Wolfendale.)
Jealousy the shadow of love
All sin is a caricature of virtue, and sin never looks so shameful as when we put it beside the virtue which it caricatures. The Bible seems to attribute human passions to God. He is a jealous God, an angry God. But jealousy and anger are distortions of virtue, as the face of the man in anger is a distortion of the same face in repose. The very passions of men, rightly inspired and rightly guided, are Divine. For this very reason, wrongly caused, wrongly inspired, wrongly guided, they are the more detestable. What is worse than jealousy? Read of it in Othello. But is jealousy always wicked? Was it wicked in Elijah when, looking out upon a devastated and desolate kingdom, with Israels allegiance swept away from God, he cried out in agony of prayer to Him, I have been jealous for Thy name, O Lord of Hosts? Was it wicked in Paul when, writing to the Corinthians, who had at one time held firmly to their love for Christ, and had been swept away from their allegiance, the apostle cries out, I am filled with a godly jealousy for you? Jealousy is the shadow love casts; and the greater the love the greater the possibility of the shadow. Jealousy is the revulsion of feeling against that which assails love. And as the musician, full of keenness of ear and ecstasy of pleasure in fine music, revolts against a discord, so the soul that is rich in love and sensitive to all the pulsations of love revolts against whatsoever impinges upon and violates love. (Lyman Abbott.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.