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Exodus 23

Ex. 23:24 KJV (With Strong’s)

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24
Thou shalt not bow down
shachah (Hebrew #7812)
to depress, i.e. prostrate (especially reflexive, in homage to royalty or God)
KJV usage: bow (self) down, crouch, fall down (flat), humbly beseech, do (make) obeisance, do reverence, make to stoop, worship.
Pronounce: shaw-khaw'
Origin: a primitive root
f to their gods
'elohiym (Hebrew #430)
gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
KJV usage: angels, X exceeding, God (gods)(-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.
Pronounce: el-o-heem'
Origin: plural of 433
, nor serve
`abad (Hebrew #5647)
to work (in any sense); by implication, to serve, till, (causatively) enslave, etc.
KJV usage: X be, keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute, + husbandman, keep, labour(-ing man, bring to pass, (cause to, make to) serve(-ing, self), (be, become) servant(-s), do (use) service, till(-er), transgress (from margin), (set a) work, be wrought, worshipper,
Pronounce: aw-bad'
Origin: a primitive root
them, nor do
`asah (Hebrew #6213)
to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application (as follows)
KJV usage: accomplish, advance, appoint, apt, be at, become, bear, bestow, bring forth, bruise, be busy, X certainly, have the charge of, commit, deal (with), deck, + displease, do, (ready) dress(-ed), (put in) execute(-ion), exercise, fashion, + feast, (fight-)ing man, + finish, fit, fly, follow, fulfill, furnish, gather, get, go about, govern, grant, great, + hinder, hold ((a feast)), X indeed, + be industrious, + journey, keep, labour, maintain, make, be meet, observe, be occupied, offer, + officer, pare, bring (come) to pass, perform, pracise, prepare, procure, provide, put, requite, X sacrifice, serve, set, shew, X sin, spend, X surely, take, X thoroughly, trim, X very, + vex, be (warr-)ior, work(-man), yield, use.
Pronounce: aw-saw'
Origin: a primitive root
g after their works
ma`aseh (Hebrew #4639)
an action (good or bad); generally, a transaction; abstractly, activity; by implication, a product (specifically, a poem) or (generally) property
KJV usage: act, art, + bakemeat, business, deed, do(-ing), labor, thing made, ware of making, occupation, thing offered, operation, possession, X well, ((handy-, needle-, net-))work(ing, - manship), wrought.
Pronounce: mah-as-eh'
Origin: from 6213
: but thou shalt utterly
harac (Hebrew #2040)
to pull down or in pieces, break, destroy
KJV usage: beat down, break (down, through), destroy, overthrow, pluck down, pull down, ruin, throw down, X utterly.
Pronounce: haw-ras'
Origin: a primitive root
overthrow
harac (Hebrew #2040)
to pull down or in pieces, break, destroy
KJV usage: beat down, break (down, through), destroy, overthrow, pluck down, pull down, ruin, throw down, X utterly.
Pronounce: haw-ras'
Origin: a primitive root
them, and quite
shabar (Hebrew #7665)
to burst (literally or figuratively)
KJV usage: break (down, off, in pieces, up), broken((-hearted)), bring to the birth, crush, destroy, hurt, quench, X quite, tear, view (by mistake for 7663).
Pronounce: shaw-bar'
Origin: a primitive root
break down
shabar (Hebrew #7665)
to burst (literally or figuratively)
KJV usage: break (down, off, in pieces, up), broken((-hearted)), bring to the birth, crush, destroy, hurt, quench, X quite, tear, view (by mistake for 7663).
Pronounce: shaw-bar'
Origin: a primitive root
i their images
matstsebah (Hebrew #4676)
something stationed, i.e. a column or (memorial stone); by analogy, an idol
KJV usage: garrison, (standing) image, pillar.
Pronounce: mats-tsay-baw'
Origin: feminine (causatively) participle of 5324
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f
Ex. 20:5• 5thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and to the fourth generation of them that hate me, (Ex. 20:5)
g
Lev. 18:3• 3After the doings of the land of Egypt wherein ye dwelt, ye shall not do; and after the doings of the land of Canaan whither I bring you, ye shall not do; neither shall ye walk in their customs. (Lev. 18:3)
;
Deut. 12:30• 30take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared to follow after them, after that they are destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. (Deut. 12:30)
;
Psa. 101:3• 3I will set nothing of Belial before mine eyes;{HR}I hate the doing of those that turn aside ;{HR}It shall not cleave to me. (Psa. 101:3)
i
Ex. 32:20• 20And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. (Ex. 32:20)
;
Num. 33:52• 52then ye shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and ye shall destroy all their figured images, and all their molten images shall ye destroy, and all their high places shall ye lay waste; (Num. 33:52)
;
2 Chron. 34:7• 7And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. (2 Chron. 34:7)

More on:

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Bow,
Gods; Goddess,
Image,
To Bow Down

Cross References

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Ministry on This Verse

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shalt not.
Ex. 20:5• 5thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and to the fourth generation of them that hate me, (Ex. 20:5)
do after.
Lev. 18:3,26‑30• 3After the doings of the land of Egypt wherein ye dwelt, ye shall not do; and after the doings of the land of Canaan whither I bring you, ye shall not do; neither shall ye walk in their customs.
 26But ye shall observe my statutes and my judgments, and shall not do any of all these abominations, —the homeborn and the stranger that sojourneth among you
 27(for all these abominations have the men of the land done, who [were] before you, and the land hath been made unclean);
 28that the land vomit not you out also, when ye make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
 29For whosoever shall do any of these abominations, the souls that do [them] shall be cut off from among their people.
 30Therefore shall ye observe my charge, that ye do not [any] of these abominable customs which were done before you; and ye shall not make yourselves unclean therein: I [am] Jehovah your God. (Lev. 18:3,26‑30)
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Deut. 12:30‑31• 30take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared to follow after them, after that they are destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
 31Thou shalt not do so to Jehovah thy God; for every thing that is abomination to Jehovah, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burned in the fire to their gods. (Deut. 12:30‑31)
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2 Chron. 33:2,9• 2And he did evil in the sight of Jehovah, like the abominations of the nations that Jehovah had dispossessed from before the children of Israel.
 9And Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations that Jehovah had destroyed from before the children of Israel. (2 Chron. 33:2,9)
;
Psa. 101:3• 3I will set nothing of Belial before mine eyes;{HR}I hate the doing of those that turn aside ;{HR}It shall not cleave to me. (Psa. 101:3)
;
Psa. 106:35‑38• 35But they mingled with the nations{HR}And learned their doings.
 36And they served their idols,{HR}Which became a snare unto them.
 37And they sacrificed their sons{HR}And their daughters to the demons;
 38And shed innocent blood—{HR}Blood of their sons and their daughters,{HR}Whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan,{HR}And the land was polluted with blood. (Psa. 106:35‑38)
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Ezek. 16:47• 47Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. (Ezek. 16:47)
overthrow.
Ex. 32:20• 20And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. (Ex. 32:20)
;
Ex. 34:13‑14• 13but ye shall demolish their altars, shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs.
 14For thou shalt worship no other God; for Jehovah—Jealous is his name—is a jealous God; (Ex. 34:13‑14)
;
Num. 33:52• 52then ye shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and ye shall destroy all their figured images, and all their molten images shall ye destroy, and all their high places shall ye lay waste; (Num. 33:52)
;
Deut. 7:5,25‑26• 5But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs, and burn their graven images with fire.
 25The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire; thou shalt not covet the silver and gold that is on them and take it unto thee, lest thou be ensnared therein; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.
 26And thou shalt not bring an abomination into thy house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing. (Deut. 7:5,25‑26)
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Deut. 12:3• 3and ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and burn their Asherahs with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and ye shall destroy the names of them out of that place. (Deut. 12:3)
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2 Chron. 34:3‑7• 3In 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 and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
 4And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence, and the images that were on high above them, he cut down: and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.
 5And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
 6And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about.
 7And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. (2 Chron. 34:3‑7)
• Two things are added in this connection on which all their blessing would depend—separation from evil, and serving the Lord their God (vss. 24-25). These conditions of blessing are unalterable. They are as true now as they were with Israel.  The Thessalonians are thus described as having turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God (1 Thess. 1:9). (“Judgments: Exodus 21-23” by E. Dennett)

J. N. Darby Translation

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24
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their deeds; but thou shalt utterly destroy them, and utterly shatter their statues.

W. Kelly Translation

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24
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their deeds; but thou shalt utterly destroy them, and utterly shatter their statues.

WK Verse Note

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(Note: Words in italics have been inserted from the J. N. Darby translation where the W. Kelly translation doesn’t exist.)