Bible Strands
Exodus 20:3
You shall have no other gods before Me.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses the assembled Israelites at Sinai, immediately after identifying Himself as the one who brought them out of Egypt (Exodus 20:2). This is the first commandment of the Decalogue.
The words — פָּנָי (panay, "my face") governs the preposition עַל ('al, "on/before"), yielding the literal sense "on my face," i.e., in my presence or above me. The prohibition is not that other gods do not exist but that they are not placed before Yahweh.
The thread — Deuteronomy 5:7 repeats the command verbatim in the Sinai recapitulation. Matthew 4:10 draws on the same cluster (Deut 6:13) when Jesus rejects Satan's temptation.
Why it lands — It demands that a reader examine what they actually set first in life and name it honestly. The command is about placement and priority, not about the existence of rival claims.
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
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 5:7 You shall have no other gods before Me.
- Matthew 4:10 “Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus told him. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
- Psalms 81:9 There must be no strange god among you, nor shall you bow to a foreign god.
- Isaiah 46:9 Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.
- Deuteronomy 6:5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
- Deuteronomy 6:14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you.
- Jeremiah 25:6 Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’
- Joshua 24:18 And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because He is our God!”
- Jeremiah 35:15 Again and again I have sent you all My servants the prophets, proclaiming: ‘Turn now, each of you, from your wicked ways, and correct your actions. Do not go after other gods to serve them. Live in the land that I have given to you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear or listened to Me.
- 1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.