Passage

Exodus 20.23

Book: Exodus · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"21. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. 22. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven."

"23. Ye shall not make other gods with me; gods of silver, or gods of gold, ye shall not make unto you."

"24. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in every place where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee. 25. And if thou make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it." (Exodus 20:21-25, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"21. The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was. 22. Yahweh said to Moses, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven."

"23. You shall most certainly not make alongside of me gods of silver, or gods of gold for yourselves."

"24. You shall make an altar of earth for me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you. 25. If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stones; for if you lift up your tool on it, you have polluted it." (Exodus 20:21-25, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"21. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. 22. And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven."

"23. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold."

"24. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 25. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. ^{build: Heb. build them with hewing}" (Exodus 20:21-25, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"21. And the people stand afar off, and Moses hath drawn nigh unto the thick darkness where God [is]. 22. And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Thus dost thou say unto the sons of Israel: Ye, ye have seen that from the heavens I have spoken with you;"

"23. ye do not make with Me gods of silver, even gods of gold ye do not make to yourselves."

"24. 'An altar of earth thou dost make for Me, and thou hast sacrificed on it thy burnt-offerings and thy peace-offerings, thy flock and thy herd; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered I come in unto thee, and have blessed thee. 25. 'And if an altar of stones thou dost make to Me, thou dost not build them of hewn work; when thy tool thou hast waved over it, then thou dost pollute it;" (Exodus 20:21-25, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.