Exodus 34 · Verse 13

Exodus 34:13

But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
Exodus 34:13, King James Version

Exodus 34:13 in other translations

BSBRather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.
WEBbut you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles;
ASVbut ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their Asherim;
YLTfor their altars ye break down, and their standing pillars ye shiver, and its shrines ye cut down;
DARBYbut ye shall demolish their altars, shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs.
BBEBut their altars are to be overturned and their pillars broken and their images cut down:
WebsterBut ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves.

What does Exodus 34:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 34:8-26

8-26. Moses bowed ... and worshipped--In the East, people bow the head to royalty, and are silent when it passes by, while in the West, they take off their hats and shout.

Read the full comment on Exodus 34:8-26 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 13 Ye shall destroy their images - See the subjects of this and all the following verses, to Exo 34:28, treated at large in the notes on Exodus 23 (note).

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 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…

Read the full comment on Exodus 34:10-17 →

Exodus 34:13 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּ֤יkiforH3588
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
מִזְבְּחֹתָם֙miz.be.cho.Tamaltars theirH4196
תִּתֹּצ֔וּןti.to.Tzunyou will pull down !H5422
וְאֶת\־ve.'Etand <obj.>H853
מַצֵּבֹתָ֖םma.tze.vo.Tamsacred pillars theirH4676
תְּשַׁבֵּר֑וּןte.sha.be.Runyou will break down !H7665
וְאֶת\־ve.'Etand <obj.>H853
אֲשֵׁרָ֖יו'a.she.RavAsherah poles itsH842
תִּכְרֹתֽוּן\׃tikh.ro.Tunyou will cut down !H3772

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Exodus 34:13

  • 2 Kings 18:4

    He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.

  • Deuteronomy 7:5

    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.

  • 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 7:25-26

    The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

  • 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: And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

  • Deuteronomy 16:21

    Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee.

  • 2 Kings 23:14

    And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.

  • 2 Chronicles 34:3-4

    For in 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. And they brake 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 brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them.

  • Judges 2:2

    And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

  • 2 Chronicles 31:1

    Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.

  • Judges 6:25

    And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it:

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
ye shall.
23:24; De 7:5,25,26; 12:2,3; Jud 2:2; 6:25; 2Ki 18:4; 23:14
2Ch 31:1; 34:3,4
images. Heb. statutes.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Exodus 34:12

    Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:

  • Exodus 34:13

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

  • Exodus 34:14

    For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

Read all of Exodus 34

Exodus 34:13 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Mas derribaréis sus altares, y quebraréis sus estatuas, y talaréis sus bosques:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Mais vous démolirez leurs autels, et vous briserez leurs statues, et vous abattrez leurs ashères.
German
Elberfelder 1871
sondern ihre Altäre sollt ihr niederreißen und ihre Bildsäulen zerbrechen und ihre Ascherim ausrotten, -
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
sed aras eorum destrue, confringe statuas, lucosque succide: