You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God. You shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it. You shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
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Deuteronomy 7:25-26 sits inside this longer paragraph.
When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you—the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—seven nations greater and mightier than you; and when Yahweh your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son. 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 he would destroy you quickly. 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. For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. Yahweh didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples; but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances which I command you today, to do them. It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. You will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock. Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you. You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods; for that would be a snare to you. If you shall say in your heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?” you shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which Yahweh your God brought you out. So shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you. You shall not be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is among you, a great and awesome God. Yahweh your God will cast out those nations before you little by little. You may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you. But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed. He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under the sky. No one will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them. You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God. You shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it. You shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
Parallel Translations
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You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
You shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it. You shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
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The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.
Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.
Show all 3 translations
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The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire; thou shalt not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.
And thou shalt not bring an abomination into thy house, and be accursed like unto it; thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (2)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (26)
- Deuteronomy 13:17 (v26) Nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to your hand, that Yahweh may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy, and have…
- Hosea 14:8 (v26) Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green cypress tree; from me your fruit is…
- Exodus 32:20 (v25) He took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of…
- Isaiah 30:22 (vv25–26) You shall defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away…
- Deuteronomy 17:1 (v25) You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or a sheep in which is a defect or anything evil; for that is an abomination to Yahweh…
Show all 25 cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 14:12 (v25) They left their gods there; and David gave a command, and they were burned with fire.
- Ezekiel 11:18 (v26) “ ‘They will come there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there.
- Romans 2:22 (v26) You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
- Deuteronomy 12:3 (v25) You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved…
- Joshua 7:21 (v25) When I saw among the plunder a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I…
- Leviticus 27:28-29 (v26) “ ‘Notwithstanding, no devoted thing that a man devotes to Yahweh of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his…
- Deuteronomy 7:5 (v25) 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…
- Deuteronomy 7:16 (v25) You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods;…
- Deuteronomy 23:18 (v25) You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute, or the wages of a male prostitute, into the house of Yahweh your God for any vow; for both of…
- Joshua 6:17-24 (v26) The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in…
- Joshua 7:1 (v25) But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of…
- Joshua 7:1-26 (v26) But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of…
- Judges 8:24-27 (v25) Gideon said to them, “I do have a request: that you would each give me the earrings of his plunder.” (For they had golden earrings, because…
- Ezekiel 14:7 (v26) “ ‘ “For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live in Israel, who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into…
- 1 Timothy 6:9-10 (v25) But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and…
- Zephaniah 1:3 (v25) I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I…
- Revelation 17:5 (v25) And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
- Isaiah 2:20 (v26) In that day, men shall cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which have been made for themselves to worship, to the…
- Habakkuk 2:9-11 (v26) Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! You have…
- Zechariah 5:4 (v26) I will cause it to go out,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears…
25 distinct cross-references across this passage (26 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v25 And be enticed to idolatry.
And be enticed to idolatry.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On v25 Deu 7:25 The graven images of their gods shall…
Deu 7:25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold [that is] on them, nor take [it] unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it [is] an abomination to the LORD thy God.
Ver. 25. Lest thou be snared.] Lest it prove as the gold of Toulouse, {a} baneful to all that fingered it; or the sepulchre of Semiramis, which they that rifled, expecting to find treasure, met with a deadly poison.
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{a} Aurum Tolosanum.
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 vv25–26 That is on them, wherewith the idols are covered…
That is on them, wherewith the idols are covered or adorned, nor consequently any other of their ornaments. This he commands to show his utter detestation of idolatry, and to cut off all occasions of it.
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 v25 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thy house,....…
Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thy house,.... An idol, so the Targum of Jonathan, the abominations of idols and their utensils, or what is ministered to them, with anything that appertains to them, or is used in the service of them, as well as the gold and silver upon them; this care was taken as much as possible to prevent idolatry, and all appearance of it, and to show what might lead on and be a temptation to it:
lest thou be a cursed thing like it; as an idol is, and so is everyone that worships it; for what more exposes to the curse of God than idolatry, a breach of the first table of the law? and therefore subjects a man to the curse of it; nay, the bringing of an idol into a man's house brings a curse into it, and makes him liable thereunto; for if the curse enters into the house of the thief or perjurer, much more into the house of a man guilty of idolatry in any degree of it; see Zac 5:3 but thou shalt utterly detest it; the Targum of Jonathan adds, as the pollution of an abominable thing:
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and thou shalt utterly abhor it, for it is a cursed thing; devoted to destruction; and to have anything to do with it is the way to entail a curse, and bring to everlasting ruin and destruction; see Rev 21:8.
Next: Deuteronomy Chapter 8
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 v25 The silver or gold - Wherewith the idols are…
The silver or gold - Wherewith the idols are covered or adorned, nor consequently any other of their ornaments. This he commands to shew his utter detestation of idolatry, and to cut off all occasions of it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v25 Verse 25. Thou shalt not desire the silver or…
Verse 25. Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them] Some of the ancient idols were plated over with gold, and God saw that the value of the metal and the excellence of the workmanship might be an inducement for the Israelites to preserve them; and this might lead, remotely at least, to idolatry. As the idols were accursed, all those who had them, or any thing appertaining to them, were accursed also, De 7:26.
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 vv25–26 Deu 7:25. The silver or the gold — Wherewith…
Deu 7:25. The silver or the gold — Wherewith the idols were covered or adorned, nor consequently any other of their ornaments. This God commanded, to show his utter detestation of idolatry, and to cut off all occasions of it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v25 The silver or gold that is on them -…
The silver or gold that is on them - The silver and gold with which the statues of the gods were overlaid. Paul is probably alluding to this command in Rom 2:22; and his accusation of the Jew thus shows that the prohibition of the text was very necessary.
Lest thou be snared - As by the rich ephod made by Gideon: compare the marginal reference.
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 On vv25–26 Graven things. Idols, so called by contempt. (Challoner) ---…
CHAPTER VII.
Graven things. Idols, so called by contempt. (Challoner) --- Made. Hebrew, "gold (plates) on them," to cover the wood, &c. See ver. 5.
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).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv25–26 25. Lest thou be snared — The Israelites were…
25. Lest thou be snared — The Israelites were to utterly destroy the idols of the conquered nations, to obliterate all trace of heathen worship. In the subsequent history we see how easily the people were snared — how readily they went after other gods. See Jdg_8:27 : “And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv25–26 25. The graven images … burn with fire] Deu_7:5.…
25. The graven images … burn with fire] Deu_7:5. Curiously in the Pl., as there is an otherwise Sg. context (the text is confirmed by Sam. and LXX). Steuern marks the verse as secondary, but unnecessarily; the isolated Pl. may be due to a scribe whose eye or ear was impressed with Deu_7:5 (so, too, Bertholet). Burn, the body of the image therefore was of wood, but plated or ornamented with metal (yet cp. Exo_32:20). Hence further—
thou shalt not covet the silver or the gold that is on them] Cp. Jos_7:1; Jos_7:21, Achan’s trespass in the devoted thing. The former of these is editorial; the latter, with Achan’s confession that he had coveted 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold, belongs to JE.
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snared] See on Deu_7:16.
an abomination] The Heb. tô‘ebah is that which is ritually unlawful, and therefore unclean and abhorrent, in respect to some religious system. Thus it is used of Israel’s own sacrifices as unlawful in Egypt, which the Egyptians would stone Israel for performing there, Exo_8:26, J (see note on that verse). Similarly it is frequently used in D) (either alone or followed by Jehovah) of the rites and religious practices of heathen nations as unlawful and unclean for Israel, Deu_12:31, Deu_13:14 (the effort to seduce to those rites), Deu_17:4, Deu_18:9, Deu_20:18; and by metonymy of the things used in those rites, Deu_7:25-26, Deu_27:15 (images, cp. Deu_32:16 parallel to strange gods); of a blemished sacrifice, Deu_17:1, and unclean food, Deu_14:3; and also of persons participating in such rites, Deu_18:12, Deu_23:18, or following other unlawful courses, Deu_22:5 (wearing the garments of the other sex), Deu_25:16 (using unjust weights); and finally, Deu_24:4, of re-marriage with one’s divorced wife after she has been married to another. All these 16 instances occur in Sg. passages with two exceptions, Deu_20:18, a Pl. clause in a Sg. context, and Deu_32:16 a line in the Song (the verb, to abhor, Deu_7:26, Deu_23:7). No such use of the noun with reference to Israel occurs in JE, but-in Leviticus 17-26, the Holiness-Code, it is used several times of the sin of unchastity. In Proverbs Jehovah’s abomination has an ethical force.
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 v25 (25, 26) These words are a special warning against…
(25, 26) These words are a special warning against the sin which Achan committed (Jos_7:21): “I coveted them, and took them.” They also describe the consequences which he experienced, together with his whole household, being made chêrem. devoted or accursed by the spoil which he took from Jericho. (See on Joshua 7)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv25–26 Vers. 25, 26. The idols of the Canaanites they…
Vers. 25, 26. The idols of the Canaanites they were utterly to destroy by fire, not saving even the silver or gold with which the images were overlaid, lest, if that were coveted and retained, it might bring them under the ban which fell on all things connected with idolatry; as happened in the case of Achan. (Jos 7)
Vers. 25, 26. The cursed thing.
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The Israelites were not to desire the silver and gold on the graven images. They were not to take it. They were not to bring it into God"s house. They were to detest and abhor it, to count it an abomination, a cursed thing, and to beware lest, by lusting after it, they became accursed like unto it. We are taught a lesson
I OF DISINTERESTEDNESS IN GOD"S SERVICE. No motive of gain was to be allowed to mingle with their work. Their service was to be disinterested. Under the cloak of religious zeal there was to be no gratification of covetousness.
II OF AVOIDING OCCASIONS OF SIN. The gold and silver of the idols tended to ensnare. There would be a temptation to a superstitious and idolatrous use of it. (Jud_1:8:27)
III OF REFUSING GAIN DERIVED FROM IMMORAL SOURCES. The Church is not profited by an influx of the money of the worldling. Still less are the gains of sin to be coveted by her: money derived from gambling, immoral speculation, bubble companies, gin-palaces, sale of irreligious and immoral books, etc.
IV OF HEARTY DETESTATION OF EVIL. The gildings of vice have an attraction for many who dislike the thing itself. But vice is to be abhorred in its gilded forms, as in every other. "Looking begets liking. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v25 Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold.
Deu_7:25
Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold.
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Things not to be desired
Showing, as he always shows, a most penetrating mind, Moses points to a very subtle temptation which would arise in connection with the progress of Israel. The graven images of the heathen nations were to be burned with fire. Moses says in the twenty-fifth verse: Thou shalt not desire . . . lest thou be ensnared therein. How subtle is the temptation in that direction! Shall we cast in the hideous gods and the valuable gold, and consume them both in the unsparing fire? How much better first to strip the god of his golden coat and then burn the wood or clay or grind the stone to powder! Moses, foreseeing this temptation, and by the very inspiration of God, knowing the mysteries of human nature, said: Touch not; taste not; handle not. In such abstention is the only possible safety of the Church. The temptation operates today. Men will sustain a questionable mode of earning a livelihood on the pretence that they can gather from the forbidden trade gold and silver which they can melt down and mint with the image and superscription of God; they can allow the devastating traffic to proceed, reeking like the pit of hell, destroying countless thousands of lives, and yet justify the continuance of the iniquity by taking off the gold and the silver and throwing part of it into the coffers of the Church. Missions so sustained are dishonoured. The gold torn from any evil way of getting a livelihood and given to the Church is an abomination to the Lord thy God. He does not want even good gold stolen for His purposes, or gold won by unholy means thrown into His exchequer. Let us give honest money. Let us eat bread unleavened by wrong-doing; there may be little of it, but Christ will break it with His own hands, and it shall be more than our hunger needs. Marvellous, too, is the prevision of Moses when he lays down the only law or principle by which all these abstentions and all these actions can be sustained. Do not let us ascribe these regulations to the prevision of Moses unless we understand by that term the inspiration of God. What is the principle which guarantees safety and protects the soul from the unclean things of heathen nations? That principle is laid down in the twenty-sixth verse. Speaking of heathen abomination Moses says: Thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it. There is no middle feeling; there is no intermediate way of dealing with bad things. If thy right, hand offend thee, cut it off; if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Thus the Testaments are one: the moral tone is the same; the stern law never yields to time--its phrase changes, its words may come and go, its forms may take upon them the colour of the transient times, but the inner spirit of righteousness is the Spirit of God, without beginning, without measure, without end. (J. Parker, D. D.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v25 General Information:
General Information:
Moses continues to tell the people of Israel Yahweh's words. In verse 25 he speaks to the group as a group, so the forms of "you" are plural, but in verse 26 he speaks as if the Israelites are one person, so the forms are singular. (See: Forms of You)
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You will burn
This is a command.
their gods
"the gods of the other nations"
do not covet ... trapped by it
These words add to the instruction to burn the idols.
you will become trapped by it
Even taking the gold or silver on the idols could cause the people to start worshiping them. By doing this they would become like an animal caught by a trap. This can be stated in active form. AT: "it will become a trap to you" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God
These words tell why Yahweh wants the people to burn the idols. "do this because Yahweh your God hates it very much"
You will utterly detest and abhor
The words "detest" and "abhor" mean basically the same thing and emphasize the intensity of hatred. AT: "You will completely hate" (See: Doublet)
for it is set apart for destruction
Yahweh cursing something and promising to destroy it is spoken of as if Yahweh were setting the object apart from everything else. This can be stated in active form. AT: "for Yahweh has set it apart for destruction" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
translationWords
image
false god
envy
silver
gold
Yahweh
God
worship
set apart
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 On vv25–26 7:25-26 Worship of false gods is detestable to the…
7:25-26 Worship of false gods is detestable to the Lord: It denies that God is unique and rejects his demand for exclusive worship (5:7-9). The horrific and disgusting rituals typically associated with pagan worship were antithetical to God’s holy nature, but Israel was in danger of being led into similar beliefs and practices (12:31; 13:12-17). An Israelite who acknowledged false gods committed an act of treason. The only remedy was complete and total destruction of these detestable objects.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.