Idolatry

Idolatry

"Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 19:4)

The literal commandment is not to "turn to" (seek after or rely upon) idols.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6) The literal commandment is that we should not serve idols.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6)

The literal commandment is that we should not worship idols.

"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6) The literal commandment is that we should not make an idol for ourselves.

"Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 19:4) The literal commandment is that we should not turn to idols or make molten gods for ourselves.

"You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves." (Exodus 20:23)

The literal commandment is that we should not make "other gods" (i.e. idols).

"If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom you have not known), then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword." (Deuteronomy 13:12-15) The literal commandment is that we should not turn a city to idolatry.

"Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt.(Deuteronomy 13:16) The literal commandment is that we should burn a city that has turned to idol worship and all its "booty" (things of value).

"Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt." (Deuteronomy 13:16) The literal commandment is that we should never rebuild a city that was burned because it turned to idol worship.

"Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the LORD may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers, if you will listen to the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God." (Deuteronomy 13:16-18) The literal commandment is that nothing that is destined to be destroyed with the city that has turned to idolatry should "cling to your hand": we should not hold onto anything (even things of great value) that should be destroyed under these circumstances.

"If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom you have not known), then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword." (Deuteronomy 13:12-15) The literal commandment is that we should not seduce or entice others to go and serve other gods.

"If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him." (Deuteronomy 13:6-8) The literal commandment is that we should not yield to anyone attempting to entice us into idolatry.

"If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him." (Deuteronomy 13:6-8) The literal commandment is that we should not listen a person who attempts to entice us into idolatry.

"If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him." (Deuteronomy 13:6-8) The literal commandment is that we should not pity a person who attempts to entice us into idolatry.

"If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him." (Deuteronomy 13:6-8) The literal commandment is that we should not spare a person who attempts to entice us into idolatry. We should not spare them from what? From the death penalty proscribed for their offense (see Deuteronomy 13:9).

"If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him." (Deuteronomy 13:6-8) The literal commandment is that we should not conceal a person who attempts to entice us into idolatry.

"'But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'" (Deuteronomy 18:20) The literal commandment is that the prophet who speaks in the name of other gods (idols) should die.

"'But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'" (Deuteronomy 18:20) The literal commandment is that the prophet who presumptuously says something in G-d's name which He did not command him to speak should die.

"Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth." (Exodus 23:13) The literal commandment is that we should not mention the name of other gods.

"Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 19:31) The literal commandment is that we should not seek out spirits (through mediums or spiritists).

"Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 19:31) The literal commandment is that we should not turn to (consult) mediums or spiritists.

"You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the LORD." (Leviticus 18:21)

The literal commandment is that we should not give any of our offspring (children) to offer them to Molech.

"You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the LORD your God hates." (Deuteronomy 16:22) The literal commandment is that we should not set up for ourselves a pillar.

"You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 26:1)

The literal commandment is that we should not place a figured stone in our land to bow down to it.  The Hebrew text of this verse can alternately be translated and understood to mean that we should not prostrate ourselves on a figured/carved/worked stone.

"You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place." (Deuteronomy 12:2) The literal commandment is that we should destroy idols and the items associated with them in "all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods".

"The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and like it come under the ban; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned." (Deuteronomy 7:25-26) The literal commandment is that we should not bring an abomination (an idol) into our house. Included in the literal meaning of "bringing something into your house" is a Hebrew idiom that means to make something your own: e.g. a man brings his new bride "into his house" when they are married. In this manner a person could "derive benefit" from making an idol his own possession.

"The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and like it come under the ban; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned." (Deuteronomy 7:25-26) The literal commandment is that we should not covet the silver or the gold that is on idols or take it for ourselves.

"When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them." (Deuteronomy 7:25-26) The literal commandment is that we should make no covenant with the idolaters.

"When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them." (Deuteronomy 7:1-2) The literal commandment is that we should show no favor to idolaters.

"When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, and when the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them." (Deuteronomy 7:1-2) The literal commandment is that we should utterly destroy the seven nations that were present in the Land before the Israelites entered during the time of Joshua.

"Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them." (Leviticus 20:23) The literal commandment is that we should not follow the customs of the nation which G-d drove out of the Land before the Israelites.

"'You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying." (Leviticus 19:26) The literal commandment is that we should not practice divination or soothsaying.

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead." (Deuteronomy 18:10-11) The literal commandment is that we should not use divination.

"'You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying.' " (Leviticus 19:26) The literal commandment is that we should not practice divination: "foretelling future events or revealing occult knowledge by means of augury or an alleged supernatural agency."

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead." (Deuteronomy 18:10-11) The literal commandment is that we should not cast a spell.

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead." (Deuteronomy 18:10-11) The literal commandment is that we should not "call up" the dead.

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead." (Deuteronomy 18:10-11) The literal commandment is that we should not be a spiritist (one who calls up spirits or ghosts).

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead." (Deuteronomy 18:10-11) The literal commandment is that we should not be a medium (an intermediary between the living and the dead).

"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead." (Deuteronomy 18:10-11) The literal commandment is that we should not practice witchcraft or cast a spell.

"Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your hiding place!" (Deuteronomy 32:38)