Exodus 20:23

20:23 You must not make gods of silver alongside me, ¹  nor make gods of gold for yourselves. ² 

Exodus 32:4

32:4 He accepted the gold ³  from them, ⁴  fashioned ⁵  it with an engraving tool, and made a molten calf. ⁶  Then they said, “These are your gods, ⁷  O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

Exodus 34:17

34:17 You must not make yourselves molten gods.

Deuteronomy 27:15

27:15 ‘Cursed is the one ⁸  who makes a carved or metal image – something abhorrent ⁹  to the Lord, the work of the craftsman ¹⁰  – and sets it up in a secret place.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’ ¹¹ 

Haggai 2:18

2:18 ‘Think carefully about the past: ¹²  from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, ¹³  to the day work on the temple of the Lord was resumed, ¹⁴  think about it. ¹⁵ 

¹ tn The direct object of the verb must be “gods of silver.” The prepositional phrase modifies the whole verse to say that these gods would then be alongside the one true God.

² tn Heb “neither will you make for you gods of gold.”

³ tn Here “the gold” has been supplied.

⁴ tn Heb “from their hand.”

⁵ tn The verb looks similar to יָצַר (yatsar), “to form, fashion” by a plan or a design. That is the verb used in Gen 2:7 for Yahweh God forming the man from the dust of the ground. If it is here, it is the reverse, a human – the dust of the ground – trying to form a god or gods. The active participle of this verb in Hebrew is “the potter.” A related noun is the word יֵצֶּר (yetser), “evil inclination,” the wicked designs or intent of the human heart (Gen 6:5). But see the discussion by B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 555-56) on a different reading, one that links the root to a hollow verb meaning “to cast out of metal” (as in 1 Kgs 7:15).

⁶ sn The word means a “young bull” and need not be translated as “calf” (although “calf” has become the traditional rendering in English). The word could describe an animal three years old. Aaron probably made an inner structure of wood and then, after melting down the gold, plated it. The verb “molten” does not need to imply that the image was solid gold; the word is used in Isa 30:22 for gold plating. So it was a young bull calf that was overlaid with gold, and the gold was fashioned with the stylus.

⁷ tn The word could be singular here and earlier; here it would then be “this is your god, O Israel.” However, the use of “these” indicates more than one god was meant by the image. But their statement and their statue, although they do not use the holy name, violate the first two commandments.

⁸ tn Heb “man,” but in a generic sense here.

⁹ tn The Hebrew term translated here “abhorrent” (תּוֹעֵבָה, to’evah) speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

¹⁰ tn Heb “craftsman’s hands.”

¹¹ tn Or “So be it!” The term is an affirmation expressing agreement with the words of the Levites.

¹² tn Heb “set your heart.” A similar expression occurs in v. 15.

¹³ sn The twenty-fourth day of the ninth month was Kislev 24 or December 18, 520. See v. 10. Here the reference is to “today,” the day the oracle is being delivered.

¹⁴ sn The day work…was resumed. This does not refer to the initial founding of the Jerusalem temple in 536 b.c. but to the renewal of construction three months earlier (see 1:15). This is clear from the situation described in v. 19 which accords with the food scarcities of that time already detailed in Hag 1:10-11.

¹⁵ tn Heb “set your heart.” A similar expression occurs in v. 15 and at the beginning of this verse.