Deuteronomy 17:3

17:3 by serving other gods and worshiping them – the sun, ¹  moon, or any other heavenly bodies which I have not permitted you to worship. ² 

Deuteronomy 17:2

17:2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you – in one of your villages ³  that the Lord your God is giving you – who sins before the Lord your God ⁴  and breaks his covenant

Deuteronomy 23:4-5

23:4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired ⁵  Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you. 23:5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed ⁶  the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves ⁷  you.

Deuteronomy 23:11

23:11 When evening arrives he must wash himself with water and then at sunset he may reenter the camp.

Job 31:26-27

31:26 if I looked at the sun ⁸  when it was shining,

and the moon advancing as a precious thing,

31:27 so that my heart was secretly enticed,

and my hand threw them a kiss from my mouth, ⁹ 

Jeremiah 8:2

8:2 They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. ¹⁰  These are things they ¹¹  adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, ¹²  from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people ¹³  will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground. ¹⁴ 

Ezekiel 8:16

8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there ¹⁵  at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, ¹⁶  were about twenty-five ¹⁷  men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, ¹⁸  facing east – they were worshiping the sun ¹⁹  toward the east!

Amos 5:25-26

5:25 You did not bring me ²⁰  sacrifices and grain offerings during the forty years you spent in the wilderness, family ²¹  of Israel.

5:26 You will pick up your images ²²  of Sikkuth, ²³  your king, ²⁴ 

and Kiyyun, ²⁵  your star god, which you made for yourselves,

[17:3]  ¹ tc The MT reads “and to the sun,” thus including the sun, the moon, and other heavenly spheres among the gods. However, Theodotion and Lucian read “or to the sun,” suggesting perhaps that the sun and the other heavenly bodies are not in the category of actual deities.

[17:3]  ² tn Heb “which I have not commanded you.” The words “to worship” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[17:2]  ³ tn Heb “gates.”

[17:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “does the evil in the eyes of the Lord your God.”

[23:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “hired against you.”

[23:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Lord your God changed.” The phrase “the Lord your God” has not been included in the translation here for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy. Moreover, use of the pronoun “he” could create confusion regarding the referent (the Lord or Balaam).

[23:5]  ⁷ tn The verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”) here and commonly elsewhere in the Book of Deuteronomy speaks of God’s elective grace toward Israel. See note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37.

[31:26]  ⁸ tn Heb “light”; but parallel to the moon it is the sun. This section speaks of false worship of the sun and the moon.

[31:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “and my hand kissed my mouth.” The idea should be that of “my mouth kissed my hand.” H. H. Rowley suggests that the hand was important in waving or throwing the kisses of homage to the sun and the moon, and so it receives the focus. This is the only place in the OT that refers to such a custom. Outside the Bible it was known, however.

[8:2]  ¹⁰ tc MT, 4QJer^a and LXX read “the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven,” but 4QJer^c reads “the sun and all the stars.”

[8:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the sun, moon, and host of heaven which they…”

[8:2]  ¹² tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

[8:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “they will not” but the referent is far enough removed that it might be ambiguous.

[8:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “like dung/manure on the surface of the ground.”

[8:16]  ¹⁵ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.

[8:16]  ¹⁶ sn The priests prayed to God between the porch and the altar on fast days (Joel 2:17). This is the location where Zechariah was murdered (Matt 23:35).

[8:16]  ¹⁷ tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.

[8:16]  ¹⁸ sn The temple faced east.

[8:16]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the sun god.”

[5:25]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Did you bring me…?” This rhetorical question expects a negative answer. The point seems to be this: Since sacrifices did not characterize God’s relationship with Israel during the nation’s formative years, the people should not consider them to be so fundamental. The Lord places a higher priority on justice than he does on empty ritual.

[5:25]  ²¹ tn Heb “house.”

[5:26]  ²² tn This word appears in an awkward position in the Hebrew, following “Kiyyun.” It is placed here for better sense.

[5:26]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term סִכּוּת (sikkut) apparently refers to Sakkuth, a Mesopotamian star god identified with Ninurta in an Ugaritic god list. The name is vocalized in the Hebrew text after the pattern of שִׁקוּץ (shiqquts, “detestable thing”). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 195-96. Some English versions, following the LXX, translate as “tent” or “shrine” (NEB, NIV), pointing the term as סֻכַּת (sukkat; cf. 9:11).

[5:26]  ²⁴ tc LXX, Vulgate, and Acts 7:43 read “Moloch” (cf. KJV). The Hebrew consonants are the same for both “king” and “Moloch” (מֹלֶךְ; molekh).

[5:26]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew term כִּיּוּן (kiyyun) apparently refers to the Mesopotamian god Kayamanu, or Saturn. The name, like “Sikkuth” in the previous line, is vocalized in the Hebrew text after the pattern of שִׁקוּץ (shiqquts, “detestable thing”). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 195-96. Some versions translate as “pedestal” (NEB, NIV), relating the term to the root כּוּן (kun).