Bible Strands
Psalms 81:9
There must be no strange god among you, nor shall you bow to a foreign god.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel, issuing a warning before commanding exclusive allegiance. The words — The Hebrew terms זָר (zar, "strange") and נֵכָר (nekar, "foreignness") designate deities that are alien to the covenant community. The thread — This command aligns with the declaration in Isaiah 43:12 that no foreign god was present, and the observation in Deuteronomy 32:12 that Yahweh alone led Israel without a foreign god accompanying him. Why it lands — The text explicitly forbids harboring or bowing to rival deities, requiring a reader to cease all worship directed toward any god other than the deliverer of Israel.
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
There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 43:12 I alone decreed and saved and proclaimed—I, and not some foreign god among you. So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.
- Deuteronomy 32:12 The LORD alone led him, and no foreign god was with him.
- 1 Corinthians 8:5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords),
- Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
- Deuteronomy 6:14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you.
- Malachi 2:11 Judah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the LORD’s beloved sanctuary by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.
- Psalms 44:20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,