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About this book

Exodus

About this book

The Ten Commandments and the Covenant

Chapter 20

1 God spoke all these words: 2 “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt,⁠ from the house of slavery.⁠ 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below.⁠ 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me,⁠ 6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.⁠ 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. 9 For six days you may labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.⁠ 12 “Honor your father and your mother,⁠ that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you.⁠ 13 “You shall not murder.⁠ 14 “You shall not commit adultery.⁠ 15 “You shall not steal.⁠ 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.⁠ 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,⁠ nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”⁠ 18 All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking—and⁠ when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance.⁠ 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin.” 21 The people kept their distance, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. 22 The Lord said to Moses, “Thus you will tell the Israelites: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven.⁠ 23 You must not make gods of silver alongside me,⁠ nor make gods of gold for yourselves. 24 “‘You must make for me an altar made of earth, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be honored I will come to you and I will bless you.⁠ 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it of stones shaped with tools, for if you use your tool on it you have defiled it.⁠ 26 And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.’⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 20:23 and Onkelos Exodus 20:20

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

In Exodus 20, God forbids making “gods alongside me,” language some interpreters saw as banning images of heavenly beings or avoiding comparisons to God. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos uses “idols”, removing any sense of equality with God.

Passages

Exodus 20:23

Hebrew Bible
22 The Lord said to Moses, “Thus you will tell the Israelites: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven. 23 You must not make gods of silver alongside me, nor make gods of gold for yourselves. 24 “‘You must make for me an altar made of earth, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be honored I will come to you and I will bless you.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Onkelos Exodus 20:20

Targum
19 And the Lord said to Moses, This is what you shall say to the children of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from the heavens. 20 You shall not make idols of silver before Me, and you shall not make idols of gold for yourselves. 21 You shall make an altar of earth before Me, and offer on it your burnt offerings and your holy sacrifices, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause My Shekinah to dwell, there I will send My blessing and bless you.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Exodus

References

"... Rather than the biblical 'with me,' which, according to opinions in the Babylonian Talmud (Avodah Zarah 43b), means 'heavenly beings' or 'a human face.' Rabbi Akiva in the Mekhilta sees it as an ethical injunction: do not treat Me as others treat their gods, praising them only for good tidings. Onkelos sidesteps the anthropomorphism. Rashi, borrowing from the Mekhilta, renders it as 'you shall not make an image of my servants who serve before Me in the heavens.' Ibn Ezra explains that the Israelites might be inclined to make gods to serve as intermediaries between them and God (as in the case of the Golden Calf.) Hence, God warns them, 'I do not need intermediaries with Me.' ... 'Idols' is more specific than the biblical 'gods.' The Aramaic makes the change for clarity and so as not to give them equality with the Lord ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Exodus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2006), 128.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Exodus 20:23 and Onkelos Exodus 20:20

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