Exodus 34:13
◄  Exodus 34:13  ►
New International Version (©2011)
Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Instead, you must break down their pagan altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles.

English Standard Version (©2001)
You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles.

International Standard Version (©2012)
Rather, you are to tear down their altars, you are to smash their sacred pillars, and you are to cut down their sacred poles —

NET Bible (©2006)
Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
But tear down their altars, crush their sacred stones, and cut down their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
But you shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their idol poles:

American King James Version
But you shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

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

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

Darby Bible Translation
but ye shall demolish their altars, shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs.

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

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

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

34:10-17 The Israelites are commanded to destroy every monument of idolatry, however curious or costly; to refuse all alliance, friendship, or marriage with idolaters, and all idolatrous feasts; and they were reminded not with idolaters, and all idolatrous feats; and they were reminded not to repeat the crime of making molten images. Jealously is called the rage of a man, Pr 6:34; but in God it is holy and just displeasure. Those cannot worship God aright, who do not worship him only.

Pulpit Commentary

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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But ye shall destroy their altars,.... On which they had sacrificed to their idols; since, if they were allowed to continue, they might be temptations to offer sacrifice thereon, contrary to the command of God:

break their images: of gold or silver, wood or stone, which they made for themselves, and worshipped as deities; seeing if these continued, the sight of them might lead to the worship of them, and so bring under the divine displeasure, as a breach of the command of God given them:

and cut down their groves; which were clusters of trees, where they had their temples and their idols, and did service to them, and where, besides idolatry, many impurities were committed. Such places were originally used by good men for devotion, being shady and solitary, but when abused to superstitious and idolatrous uses, were forbidden. It is said (n), the word for "grove" is general, and includes every tree they serve, or plant, for an idol.

(n) R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 72. 1.

Exodus 34:13 Parallel Commentaries
Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


The Lord Renews the Covenant
…12Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you go, lest it be for a snare in the middle of you: 13But you shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: 14For you shall worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: …

Exodus 23:24 Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.
Deuteronomy 7:5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire.
Deuteronomy 12:3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.
Deuteronomy 16:21 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the LORD your God,
Judges 2:2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?
Judges 6:25 That same night the LORD said to him, "Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one 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 kind of altar to the LORD your God on the top of this height. Using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down, offer the second bull as a burnt offering."
1 Kings 14:15 And the LORD will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused the LORD's anger by making Asherah poles.
2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)
2 Chronicles 14:3 He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles.
2 Chronicles 15:16 King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maakah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for the worship of Asherah. Asa cut it down, broke it up and burned it in the Kidron Valley.
2 Chronicles 17:6 His heart was devoted to the ways of the LORD; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.