26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, 2 so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before 3 it, for I am the Lord your God.
26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, 4 so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before 5 it, for I am the Lord your God.
14:23 “On the eighth day he must bring them for his purification to the priest at the entrance 6 of the Meeting Tent before the Lord,
57:5 you who practice ritual sex 7 under the oaks and every green tree,
who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs. 8
1 tn Or “images of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “their Asherim”; NCV “their Asherah idols.”
2 sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”
3 tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).
4 sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”
5 tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).
6 tn Heb “to the doorway of”; KJV, ASV “unto the door of.”
7 tn Heb “inflame yourselves”; NRSV “burn with lust.” This verse alludes to the practice of ritual sex that accompanied pagan fertility rites.
8 sn This apparently alludes to the practice of child sacrifice (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).