Bible Strands
Exodus 34:15
Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Moses on Mount Sinai during the renewal of the covenant, issuing directives for the Israelites' imminent settlement in the land. The command functions as a boundary marker separating Israel from the surrounding nations.
The words — The Hebrew תִּכְרֹת (tikhrot) means "you should make" and בְּרִית (berit) means "a covenant," forming the central prohibition. The verb זָנוּ (zanu), "they will prostitute themselves," establishes the spiritual metaphor for idolatry that runs through the passage.
The thread — This warning against covenantal entanglement recurs in Judges 2:17, where Israel ignores judges and bows to other gods, and Numbers 25:2, where foreign sacrifices invite Israel to idolatry. Deuteronomy 31:16 echoes the same trajectory of the people rising to prostitute themselves after Moses' death.
Why it lands — The text states that foreign alliances lead to shared sacrifices and intermarriage that inevitably draw Israel into idolatry. A reader must enforce strict separation from surrounding religious practices to maintain exclusive loyalty to Yahweh.
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
Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
Cross-references
- Judges 2:17 Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done.
- Numbers 25:2 who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods.
- Deuteronomy 31:16 And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.
- Psalms 106:28 They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.
- 1 Corinthians 8:4 So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
- 1 Corinthians 8:10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you who are well informed eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols?
- 1 Corinthians 10:27 If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience.
- Exodus 34:12 Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, lest they become a snare in your midst.
- Leviticus 17:7 They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons to which they have prostituted themselves. This will be a permanent statute for them for the generations to come.’
- Leviticus 20:5 then I will set My face against that man and his family and cut off from among their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves with Molech.