Bible Strands
Exodus 34:17
You shall make no molten gods for yourselves.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses receives renewed covenant instructions from Yahweh on Mount Sinai immediately following the golden calf incident. The command follows a warning against intermarriage with Canaanite nations and precedes the ordinance for the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The words — The Hebrew term מַסֵּכָה (masseh) translates literally to "molten metal," combined with the verb תַּעֲשֶׂה (ta'aseh) meaning "you shall make." Paired with לֹא (lo), it forms a direct prohibition against crafting cast deities.
The thread — This prohibition recurs in Leviticus 19:4, echoes the golden calf rebellion in Exodus 32:8, and aligns with Isaiah 46:6’s description of forging metal idols. The text consistently links molten images to covenant violation.
Why it lands — The verse demands exclusive loyalty by forbidding the fabrication of physical representations for worship. It requires immediate obedience to the covenant before proceeding to appointed festivals.
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 make thee no molten gods.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 19:4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God.
- Exodus 32:8 How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
- Isaiah 46:6 They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.
- Jeremiah 10:14 Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
- Acts 17:29 Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.
- Acts 19:26 And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, this Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.