Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 7:26
And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, concluding the covenant regulations before they enter Canaan. He specifies the required response to conquered pagan worship sites and their artifacts.
The words — חֵרֶם (Che.rem) denotes an object irrevocably devoted to destruction, while תֽוֹעֵבָה (to'evah) refers to a ritual detestable thing. The text commands immediate rejection of these items to avoid sharing their designated fate.
The thread — The prohibition against retaining devoted items appears in Deuteronomy 13:17, which warns that clinging to them provokes divine anger. The motif of rejecting foreign gods recurs in Hosea 14:8 through a rhetorical question, while Isaiah 30:22 describes the physical disposal of silver- and gold-plated idols.
Why it lands — The verse demands practical separation from idolatrous objects to prevent spiritual contamination and shared judgment. It requires readers to actively discard rather than preserve anything designated for destruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 13:17 Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hands, so that the LORD will turn from His fierce anger, grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers,
- Hosea 14:8 O Ephraim, what have I to do anymore with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing cypress; your fruit comes from Me.
- Isaiah 30:22 So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”
- Ezekiel 11:18 When they return to it, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations.
- Romans 2:22 You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
- Leviticus 27:28 Nothing that a man sets apart to the LORD from all he owns—whether a man, an animal, or his inherited land—can be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the LORD.
- Joshua 6:17 Now the city and everything in it must be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all those with her in her house will live, because she hid the spies we sent.
- Joshua 7:1 The Israelites, however, acted unfaithfully regarding the things devoted to destruction. Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was set apart. So the anger of the LORD burned against the Israelites.
- Ezekiel 14:7 For when any Israelite or any foreigner dwelling in Israel separates himself from Me, sets up idols in his heart, and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me, I the LORD will answer him Myself.
- Isaiah 2:20 In that day men will cast away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold—the idols they made to worship.