You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
Show the surrounding paragraph
Exodus 23:32-33 sits inside this longer paragraph.
“Behold, I send an angel before you, to keep you by the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him. But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries. For my angel shall go before you, and bring you in to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I will cut them off. You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor follow their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and demolish their pillars. You shall serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. No one will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land. I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
Parallel Translations
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You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
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Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
Show all 3 translations
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Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
They shall not dwell in thy land — lest they make thee sin against Me, for thou wilt serve their gods — for they will be a snare unto thee.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Commandments (4)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (20)
- Exodus 34:12 (vv32–33) Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you;
- Deuteronomy 7:2 (v32) 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…
- Exodus 34:15 (v32) “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and…
- Psalms 106:36 (v33) They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
- Deuteronomy 7:16 (vv32–33) 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;…
Show all 18 cross-references
- Psalms 106:35 (v32) but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works.
- Numbers 25:1-2 (v32) Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab; for they called the people to the…
- Joshua 23:13 (v33) know for a certainty that Yahweh your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap…
- Judges 2:3 (v33) Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’…
- 2 Corinthians 6:15 (v32) What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what portion does a believer have with an unbeliever?
- Deuteronomy 12:30 (v33) be careful that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you not inquire after their gods,…
- Joshua 9:14-23 (v32) The men sampled their provisions, and didn’t ask counsel from Yahweh’s mouth. Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them,…
- 1 Samuel 18:21 (v33) Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul…
- 2 Samuel 21:1-2 (v32) There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Yahweh. Yahweh said, “It is for…
- 1 Kings 14:16 (v33) He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin.”
- 2 Chronicles 33:9 (v33) Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than did the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the…
- 2 Timothy 2:26 (v33) and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to his will.
- Deuteronomy 7:2-3 (v33) 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…
18 distinct cross-references across this passage (20 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v33 Hebrew, offense or snare.
Hebrew, offense or snare.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv32–33 Exo 23:32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them,…
Exo 23:32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
Ver. 32. No covenant with them.] Because devoted to destruction; and they will be drawing thee to idolatry, as it also happened in Jdg 1:1-36 Jdg 2:1-23.
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 vv32–33 To worship them, as they made a covenant with…
To worship them, as they made a covenant with Jehovah to worship him. The sense is, Thou shalt not engage thyself, either to the people or to their gods, but shalt root out both.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv32–33 Verse 32. Thou shalt make no covenant with them]…
Verse 32. Thou shalt make no covenant with them] They were incurable idolaters, and the cup of their iniquity was full. And had the Israelites contracted any alliance with them, either sacred or civil, they would have enticed them into their idolatries, to which the Jews were at all times most unhappily prone; and as God intended that they should be the preservers of the true religion till the coming of the Messiah, hence he strictly forbade them to tolerate idolatry.
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 v32 Exo 23:32-33. Thou shalt make no covenant with them…
Exo 23:32-33. Thou shalt make no covenant with them — Thou shalt give no toleration to idol-worship, nor suffer it to be introduced into thy territories. Thou shalt make no league with them, either civil or religious. They shall not dwell in thy land — Unless they renounce their idolatry, which is plainly understood; for, upon their becoming proselytes to the Jewish religion, they might dwell among them, and were called the strangers. If thou serve — Thou wilt serve, this will be the fruit of thy cohabitation with them. It will be a snare unto thee — Will bring great calamities upon thee, and, at last, be thy ruin, which accordingly came to pass.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v33 Scandal. If you have any society with these nations,…
Scandal. If you have any society with these nations, it will turn to your ruin, which was but too literally manifested afterwards.
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 vv32–33 32. No covenant with them — To enter into…
32. No covenant with them — To enter into any treaty with a hopelessly depraved and heaven-doomed people, or with their gods, was to trample under foot their own covenant with Jehovah, and treat with contempt these Sinaitic laws.
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 On vv32–33 (32) Thou shalt make no covenant with them—i.e., no…
(32) Thou shalt make no covenant with them—i.e., no treaty of peace; no arrangement by which one part of the land shall be thine and another theirs. (Comp. Exo_34:12.)
Nor with their gods.—It was customary at the time for treaties between nations to contain an acknowledgment by each of the other’s gods. (See the treaty between Rameses II. And the Hittites in the Records of the Past, vol. iv., pp. 27-32.) Thus a treaty with a nation was a sort of treaty with its gods.
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 vv32–33 Vers. 32, 33. FINAL WARNING AGAINST IDOLATRY. The "Book…
Vers. 32, 33. FINAL WARNING AGAINST IDOLATRY. The "Book of the Covenant" ends as it began, with a solemn warning against idolatry. (Exo_20:23) "Thou shalt make no covenant with them nor with their gods." Thou shalt not even suffer them to dwell side by side with thee in the land, on peaceable terms, with their own laws and religion, lest thou be ensnared thereby, and led to worship their idols and join in their unhallowed rites (ver. 33). The after history of the people of Israel shows the need of the warning. From the exodus to the captivity, every idolatry with which they came into close contact proved a sore temptation to them. As the author of Kings observes of the Ten Tribes The children of Israel did secretly those things which were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree; and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger; for they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, "Ye shall not do this thing". (2Ki_17:9-12)
Thou shalt make no covenant with them. See below, Exo_34:12-15. According to the forms usual at the time, a treaty of peace would have contained an acknowledgment of the gods of either nation, and words in honour of them. (See the "Treaty of Rameses II with the Hittites," given in the Records of the Past, vol. 4. pp. 27-32.) This would have been equivalent to "making a covenant with their gods.
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Vers. 32, 33. The Peril of Idolatry.
Idolatry is the interposition of any object between man and God, in such sort that the object takes the place of God in the heart and the affections, occupying them to his exclusion, or to his disparagement. Idolatry proper, the interposition between God and the soul of idols or images, seems to have possessed a peculiar fascination for the Israelites, either because their materialistic tendencies made them shrink from approaching in thought a mere pure Spirit, or perhaps from their addiction to the sensual pleasures which accompanied idolatry, as practised by the greater part of the heathen. (See the comment on ver. 24.) In modern times, and in countries where Protestantism is professed by the generality, there is little or no danger of this gross form of the sin. But there is great danger of other forms of it. In order to make any practical use of those large portions of the Old Testament which warn against idolatry, we have to remember
I THAT COVETOUSNESS IS IDOLATRY. Wealth is made an idol by thousands in these latter days. All hasten to be rich. Nothing is greatly accounted of which does not lead to opulence. God is shut out from the heart by desires, and plans, and calculations which have money for their object and which so occupy it that there is no room for anything else. The danger has existed at all times, but it has to be specially guarded against at the present day, when Mammon has become the most potent of all the spirits of evil, and men bow down before, not an image of gold, but gold itself, whatever shape it may take.
II THAT SELFISHNESS IS IDOLATRY. Men make idols of themselves of their own happiness, quiet, comfort allowing nothing to interfere with these, and infinitely preferring them to any intrusive thoughts of God, his glory, or his claims upon them. Persons thus wrapped up in themselves are idolaters of a very gross type, since the object of their worship is wholly bad and contemptible.
III THAT PROFLIGACY IS IDOLATRY. Men idolise a wretched creature, a girl, or woman, possessed of some transient beauty and personal attractions, but entirely devoid of a single estimable quality. For such a creature they peril all their prospects, both in this life and the next. They make her the queen of their souls, the object of their adoration, the star by which they direct their course. The ordinary consequence is shipwreck, both here and hereafter. When so poor an idol as a weak wanton has stepped in between the soul and God, there is little chance of a real repentance and return of the soul to its Maker.
IV THAT AMUSEMENT MAY BE IDOLATRY. It is quite possible so to devote oneself to amusement as to make it shut out God from us. Those who live in a whirl of gaiety, with no time set apart for serious duties, for instructing the ignorant, consoling the afflicted, visiting the poor and needy nay, with scant time for private or family prayer are idolaters, andwill have to give account to a "jealous God," who wills that his creatures should worship him and not make it their highest end to amuse themselves.
V THAT LOVE OF FASHION MAY BE IDOLATRY. Vast numbers of persons who find no amusement in the pursuit, think it necessary to do whatever it is the fashion to do. Their life is a perpetual round of employments in which they have no pleasure, and which they have not chosen for themselves, but which the voice of fashion forces upon them. They drag themselves through exhibitions which do not interest them; lounge at clubs of which they are utterly weary; dine out when they would much rather be at home; and pass the evening and half the night in showing themselves at balls and assemblies which fatigue and disgust them. And all because Fashion says it is the correct thing. The idol, Fashion, has as many votaries in modern Europe as ever the Dea Syra had in Western Asia, or Isis in Egypt; and her votaries pass through life as real idolaters as the worshippers of the ancient goddesses, albeit unconscious ones.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v33 23:33 they will cause you to sin against me:…
23:33 they will cause you to sin against me: The Canaanites were to be destroyed because there could be no truce between a holy God and sin. Furthermore, the continuance of God’s revelation, which was to culminate in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, depended on the survival of that revelation through the people of Israel. If they fell back into paganism, that could not happen.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.