Exodus 23:24 “You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their prac…”

Exodus 23:24

You must not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices. Instead, you are to demolish them and smash their sacred stones to pieces.

Berean Standard Bible

Other translations

King James Version

Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

World English Bible

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.

American Standard Version

Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and break in pieces their pillars.

Geneva Bible 1599

Thou shalt not bow downe to their gods, neither serue them, nor doe after the workes of them: but vtterly ouerthrowe them, and breake in pieces their images.

Darby Translation

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.

Young's Literal Translation

'Thou dost not bow thyself to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their doings, but dost utterly devote them, and thoroughly break their standing pillars.

Bible in Basic English

Do not go down on your faces and give worship to their gods, or do as they do; but overcome them completely, and let their pillars be broken down.

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Cross references

“shalt not”

Exodus 20:5

Exodus 20:5 · BSB

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

“do after”

Leviticus 18:3 2 Chronicles 33:9 Leviticus 18:26–30 2 Chronicles 33:2 Psalm 101:3 Psalm 106:35–38

Leviticus 18:3 · BSB

You must not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not follow the practices of the land of Canaan, into which I am bringing you. You must not walk in their customs.

2 Chronicles 33:9 · BSB

So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

Leviticus 18:26–30 · BSB

But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances, and you must not commit any of these abominations—neither your native-born nor the foreigner who lives among you.

2 Chronicles 33:2 · BSB

And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

Psalm 101:3 · BSB

I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.

Psalm 106:35–38 · BSB

but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.

“overthrow”

Numbers 33:52 Deuteronomy 7:5 Deuteronomy 12:3 Exodus 32:20 2 Chronicles 34:3–7 Exodus 34:13

Numbers 33:52 · BSB

you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.

Deuteronomy 7:5 · BSB

Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.

Deuteronomy 12:3 · BSB

Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.

Exodus 32:20 · BSB

Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it.

2 Chronicles 34:3–7 · BSB

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carv…

Exodus 34:13 · BSB

Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.

Cross references adapted from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

In context

23For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will annihilate them.

25So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away sickness from among you.

Read Exodus 23