Exodus 34:13
New International Version
Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.

New Living Translation
Instead, you must break down their pagan altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles.

English Standard Version
You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim

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

King James Bible
But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

New King James Version
But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images

New American Standard Bible
But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones, and cut down their Asherim

NASB 1995
“But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim

NASB 1977
“But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim

Legacy Standard Bible
But rather, you are to tear down their altars and shatter their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim

Amplified Bible
But you shall tear down and destroy their [pagan] altars, smash in pieces their [sacred] pillars (obelisks, images) and cut down their Asherim

Christian Standard Bible
Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles.

American Standard Version
but ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their Asherim;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Beware that you will not establish a covenant with those inhabiting the land where you go, lest it shall be a stumbling block to you.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Ye shall destroy their altars, and break in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their groves, and the graven images of their gods ye shall burn with fire.

Contemporary English Version
Instead, you must destroy their altars and tear down the sacred poles they use in the worship of the goddess Asherah.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But destroy their altars, break their statues, and cut down their groves:

English Revised Version
but ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their Asherim:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
But tear down their altars, crush their sacred stones, and cut down their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah.

Good News Translation
Instead, tear down their altars, destroy their sacred pillars, and cut down their symbols of the goddess Asherah.

International Standard Version
Rather, you are to tear down their altars, you are to smash their sacred pillars, and you are to cut down their sacred poles —

JPS Tanakh 1917
But ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their Asherim.

Literal Standard Version
for you break down their altars, and you shatter their standing pillars, and you cut down its Asherim;

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

New American Bible
Tear down their altars; smash their sacred stones, and cut down their asherahs.

NET Bible
Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles.

New Revised Standard Version
You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles

New Heart English Bible
but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim;

Webster's Bible Translation
But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves.

World English Bible
but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles;

Young's Literal Translation
for their altars ye break down, and their standing pillars ye shiver, and its shrines ye cut down;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The LORD Renews the Covenant
12Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, lest they become a snare in your midst. 13Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles. 14For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.…

Cross References
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.

Deuteronomy 7:5
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
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.

Deuteronomy 16:21
Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build for the LORD your God,

Judges 2:2
and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.' Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?

Judges 6:25
On that very night the LORD said to Gideon, "Take your father's young bull and a second bull seven years old, tear down your father's altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

Judges 6:26
Then build a proper altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold. And with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down, take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering."


Treasury of Scripture

But you shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

ye shall

Exodus 23:24
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.

Deuteronomy 7:5,25,26
But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire…

Deuteronomy 12:2,3
Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: …

images.

Jump to Previous
Altars Asherah Asherahs Asherim Ashe'rim Break Broken Cut Dash Demolish Destroy Groves Hew Images Overturned Pieces Pillars Poles Rather Sacred Shatter Shiver Shrines Smash Standing Statues Stones Tear
Jump to Next
Altars Asherah Asherahs Asherim Ashe'rim Break Broken Cut Dash Demolish Destroy Groves Hew Images Overturned Pieces Pillars Poles Rather Sacred Shatter Shiver Shrines Smash Standing Statues Stones Tear
Exodus 34
1. The tablets are replaced
5. The name of the Lord proclaimed
8. Moses entreats God to go with them
10. God makes a covenant with them, repeating certain duties
28. Moses after forty days on the mount, comes down with the tablets
29. His face is radiant, and he covers it with a veil














(13) Ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves.--In the "Book of the Covenant" the command had been simply to "quite break down their images" (Exodus 23:24). Now, after the Israelites had displayed their idolatrous leanings, it is added that they are likewise to destroy the "altars" and the "groves." Altars were common among all the idolatrous nations, sometimes attached to temples (1Kings 16:32; 2Kings 21:4-5), sometimes separate from them (Numbers 23:1; Numbers 23:29; 2Kings 16:10-11), and were used for much the same purposes as the Hebrew altars: i.e., for sacrifices, bloody and unbloody, and for burning incense. "Groves"--here mentioned for the first time--were peculiar to a limited number of nations, as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Ph?nicians, Syrians, and a few others. They appear to have been artificial constructions, either of wood or stone, or both, imitative of vegetable forms, and probably emblematic of the productive powers of nature. The worship connected with the "groves" was of a peculiarly gross and licentious character. The very name, asherah, was a modification of Ashtoreth, or Astarte. It is remarkable that nothing is said of destroying Canaannite temples--an indication that as yet they did not exist, and a mark of the high antiquity of the book. . . . Verse 13. - Ye shall destroy their altars, etc. This command is more sweeping than the corresponding one in the "Book of the Covenant" (Exodus 23:24), which expressly mentions only the "images." Here the destruction of idol-altars and idol-groves is further commanded. On idol-altars, see Numbers 23:1, 29; Judges 2:2; 1 Kings 16:32; 1 Kings 18:26, etc. Groves are here for the first time mentioned. They appear to have been artificial constructions, either of wood or metal, or both, more or less imitative of trees, and regarded as emblems of the Oriental nature-deities, especially Baal and Astarte or Ashtoreth. The word translated "grove" (asherah) is a modification of the name Ashtoreth. The well-known "sacred tree" of the Assyrians is probably an asherah.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Rather,
כִּ֤י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

you must tear down
תִּתֹּצ֔וּן (tit·tō·ṣūn)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural | Paragogic nun
Strong's 5422: To pull down, break down

their altars,
מִזְבְּחֹתָם֙ (miz·bə·ḥō·ṯām)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 4196: An altar

smash
תְּשַׁבֵּר֑וּן (tə·šab·bê·rūn)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - second person masculine plural | Paragogic nun
Strong's 7665: To break, break in pieces

their sacred stones,
מַצֵּבֹתָ֖ם (maṣ·ṣê·ḇō·ṯām)
Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 4676: Something stationed, a column, an idol

and chop down
תִּכְרֹתֽוּן׃ (tiḵ·rō·ṯūn)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural | Paragogic nun
Strong's 3772: To cut, to destroy, consume, to covenant

their Asherah poles.
אֲשֵׁרָ֖יו (’ă·šê·rāw)
Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 842: A Phoenician goddess, also an image of the same


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OT Law: Exodus 34:13 But you shall break down their altars (Exo. Ex)
Exodus 34:12
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