Passage

Exodus 20.4

Book: Exodus · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Verse

ASV:

"4. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:" (Exodus 20:4, ASV)

WEB:

"4. “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:" (Exodus 20:4, WEB)

KJV:

"4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:" (Exodus 20:4, KJV)

YLT:

"4. 'Thou dost not make to thyself a graven image, or any likeness which [is] in the heavens above, or which [is] in the earth beneath, or which [is] in the waters under the earth." (Exodus 20:4, YLT)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"2. I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

"4. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:"

"5. thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, 6. and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:2-6, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"2. “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3. “You shall have no other gods before me."

"4. “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:"

"5. you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6. and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:2-6, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"2. I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

"4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:"

"5. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:2-6, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"2. I [am] Jehovah thy God, who hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of a house of servants. 3. 'Thou hast no other Gods before Me."

"4. 'Thou dost not make to thyself a graven image, or any likeness which [is] in the heavens above, or which [is] in the earth beneath, or which [is] in the waters under the earth."

"5. Thou dost not bow thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, Jehovah thy God, [am] a zealous God, charging iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third [generation], and on the fourth, of those hating Me, 6. and doing kindness to thousands, of those loving Me and keeping My commands." (Exodus 20:2-6, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: YHWH speaking directly to Israel from Mount Sinai (Ex 20:1, "And God spake all these words")
Audience: the assembled Israelite congregation at the foot of Sinai, three months after the exodus from Egypt
Location: Mount Sinai, in the wilderness of Sinai
Time period: c. 1446 BC (on the traditional early-date Exodus); composed c. 1446-1406 BC
Narrative context: the Decalogue / Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17 / Deut 5:6-21), the foundational covenant-code of the Sinai Covenant. The Decalogue is structured: prologue (v. 2, YHWH's self-identification as the redeemer); first commandment (v. 3, no other gods); second commandment (vv. 4-6, no graven image); third (v. 7, not taking YHWH's name in vain); fourth (vv. 8-11, Sabbath); fifth (v. 12, honor parents); sixth (v. 13, no murder); seventh (v. 14, no adultery); eighth (v. 15, no stealing); ninth (v. 16, no false witness); tenth (v. 17, no coveting). The verse-numbering of commandments varies (Catholic/Lutheran groups 4 with 3 and split 17; Reformed/Eastern Orthodox keep them as listed). The second commandment is one of the most contested across Christian traditions.

Theological reading

Exodus 20:4 is the second commandment, the prohibition of graven images / likenesses. The commandment is theologically loaded and historically contested. The Greek-Hebrew vocabulary: pesel (graven / carved image) and kol-temunah (any likeness / form). The prohibition extends to anything in heaven, earth, or under the earth that could be made into a worship-object.

The two-commandment dispute

Christian traditions divide on whether vv. 3 and 4 are one commandment (Catholic / Lutheran groups them as commandment 1) or two commandments (Reformed / Eastern Orthodox / Jewish numbering keeps them separate).

The exegetical case for two-commandments:

v. 3 forbids worship of other gods (the polytheism prohibition)
v. 4 forbids making images (even of YHWH, or anything else as a worship-object)

These are distinct prohibitions. A monotheist can violate v. 4 (image-making to represent the true God) without violating v. 3 (worshiping a different god). Aaron's golden calf (Exodus 32) was not worship of a different god; Aaron explicitly identifies the calf with YHWH ("These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt", Ex 32:4). The golden-calf episode is a violation of the second commandment specifically.

The Catholic-Lutheran case for one-commandment: the prohibition of images is subordinate to the prohibition of other gods, image-making is the means by which other-god-worship happens. The two are aspects of one prohibition. This reading allows for religious images that represent the true God or saints without violating the commandment (provided they are not themselves worshiped).

The image-controversy in church history

The image-issue has been a recurring controversy:

The Byzantine Iconoclast Controversy (8th-9th c. AD): Emperor Leo III (726 AD) ordered the destruction of all religious icons. The Iconoclasts argued: icons violate Ex 20:4; Christianity has degenerated into image-worship. The Iconodules (defenders of icons) argued: the incarnation of Christ legitimizes religious imagery, God-made-visible-in-Christ legitimizes visual representations of Christ + saints. The Seventh Ecumenical Council (Second Council of Nicaea, 787 AD) decided in favor of icons-with-veneration (proskynesis) but not worship (latria), establishing the Eastern Orthodox practice.
The Protestant Reformation: the second-commandment debate erupted again. Reformed traditions (Zwingli, Calvin, the Puritans) read Ex 20:4 as prohibiting all religious imagery, stained-glass, statues, crucifixes, etc. Lutherans took a moderate position (images permitted as educational aids but not worship-objects). Catholics defended images per the Second Council of Nicaea precedent. The Reformed iconoclasm produced waves of image-destruction in 16th-c. Northern Europe.
Contemporary practice: Reformed-Presbyterian churches typically have plain interiors with no images; Catholic and Orthodox churches retain extensive religious imagery; Anglican and Lutheran practice varies. The contested heritage continues to shape Christian aesthetic and liturgical practice.

The Christological complication

The Incarnation introduces a theological complication. Before the incarnation, no visible-image of God could be true (because God is invisible, John 1:18). After the incarnation, God did take visible form in Christ (John 1:14, "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory"; rich hub John 1.1-14).

The iconodule argument: the incarnation legitimizes religious images of Christ specifically. To say "no images of Christ" is to deny the incarnation's bodily visibility.

The iconoclast / Reformed response: images of Christ inevitably misrepresent Him (because the artist's imagination supplies what is unknown, the historical Jesus's facial features, etc.) AND tend toward becoming worship-objects rather than mere representations. The commandment's safeguard is to prohibit making such images, not merely worshiping them.

The orthodox-Christian middle ground (per the Big Concept Pages, Apologetic Method Comparison approach): the commandment's core prohibition is worship of images. Religious art used as educational aid or aesthetic enrichment without devotional veneration is not necessarily prohibited. The line is the use, not the object.

Why does the verse prohibit images?

Several theological reasons converge:

YHWH is incomparable. No created thing, heaven, earth, sea, adequately represents Him. To image Him is to reduce Him to a created-thing-likeness. Cf. Isa 40:18, "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?"
YHWH is invisible. Deuteronomy 4:15-19 connects Ex 20:4 to the Sinai theophany: "Ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire." No human saw God's form at Sinai; therefore no image can be made.
Images lead to idolatry. Even when intended to represent the true God, images tend to become the focus of worship over time. The golden calf (Ex 32) and the bronze serpent (2 Kings 18:4, Hezekiah destroys the Moses-made serpent because Israel had begun worshiping it) show the pattern.
YHWH is jealous. v. 5 explicitly grounds the prohibition in YHWH's jealous-zealous nature. He will not share worship with images, whether of Him or of others.

Patristic and Reformed reading

Tertullian (On Idolatry, c. AD 211): the prohibition of images is one of the foundational ethics of Christian practice in a Greco-Roman culture saturated with idols. Christians must refuse all idolatry.

John of Damascus (Three Treatises on the Divine Images, c. AD 730): defense of icons against the iconoclasts. The incarnation legitimizes religious images of Christ; veneration (proskynesis) is distinct from worship (latria).

John Calvin (Institutes 1.11): the strongest Reformed defense of strict-image-prohibition. "Therefore, by the Law God plainly commanded that they should not make to themselves any graven image." Calvin treats the second commandment as foundational to true Christian worship.

Apologetic deployment

The verse is foundational for:

Anti-idolatry theology in all forms, material idolatry (statues, images) and metaphorical idolatry (money, fame, sex, ideology as god-substitutes).
Defense of the invisible-God doctrine. Christianity does not depend on visible-religious-objects for worship. The God of Israel is invisible, distinct from Greco-Roman pantheons that depended on idol-statues to actualize divine-presence.
Comparative-religion apologetic. The Christian-monotheist refusal of images stands in contrast to:

Hinduism (extensive image-veneration of multiple deities)
Buddhism (Buddha-statues central to practice in many forms)
Mormon temple-art and the Christ-of-the-Andes / mountain Jesus statues
Modern celebrity-iconography functioning religiously

Worship-purity argument. The second commandment safeguards the purity of worship from image-mediation. Christian worship is to be in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), not mediated through material representations.

The contemporary application

The contemporary Christian wrestles with the image-question in several practical contexts:

Religious art in churches, Reformed strict; Catholic/Orthodox permissive
Personal devotional objects (crucifixes, rosaries, prayer cards), same divide
Christian film and media (visual representations of Jesus on screen), increasingly normalized in Protestant practice but historically prohibited by strict-Reformed readings
Secular celebrity-veneration functioning as quasi-religious practice
Money / property / status as functional idols, the heart-idolatry that Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods (2009), develops

The Christian-orthodox consensus: whatever the position on visual-religious-art, the worship of any image is prohibited; the heart must not give to any creature the devotion due to God alone.

Trinitarian / Oneness reading

The verse is fully compatible with both Trinitarian and Oneness readings. The one God who is invisible cannot be adequately imaged by anything created. See Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism.

Canonical-theological connections

Deuteronomy 5:8, Deuteronomic parallel
Deuteronomy 4:15-19, explicit grounding of the commandment in the Sinai-no-form theophany
Exodus 32, the golden calf episode (commandment-violation narrative)
2 Kings 18:4, Hezekiah destroying the bronze serpent
Isaiah 40:18-26, "To whom then will ye liken God?", extended OT prophetic anti-idolatry argument
Isaiah 44:9-20, Isaiah's satirical attack on idol-making
Romans 1:21-23, Pauline cosmic-fall-into-idolatry: "changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image"
Acts 17:29, Paul at Athens: "we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone"
John 4:24, worship in spirit and in truth
1 John 5:21, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols"
Colossians 3:5, "covetousness, which is idolatry" (metaphorical-idolatry extension)

Key words

H6213 - asah, asah (Strong's H6213). Also appears in: Genesis 1.14-19, Genesis 1.24-28, Genesis 1.26.

Quoted in

G4151 - pneuma