Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 9:17
Context9:17 I grabbed the two tablets, threw them down, 1 and shattered them before your very eyes.
Deuteronomy 7:5
Context7:5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, 2 cut down their sacred Asherah poles, 3 and burn up their idols.
Deuteronomy 10:2
Context10:2 I will write on the tablets the same words 4 that were on the first tablets you broke, and you must put them into the ark.”
Deuteronomy 12:3
Context12:3 You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, 5 burn up their sacred Asherah poles, 6 and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place.
[9:17] 1 tn The Hebrew text includes “from upon my two hands,” but as this seems somewhat obvious and redundant, it has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
[7:5] 2 sn Sacred pillars. The Hebrew word (מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) denotes a standing pillar, usually made of stone. Its purpose was to mark the presence of a shrine or altar thought to have been visited by deity. Though sometimes associated with pure worship of the
[7:5] 3 sn Sacred Asherah poles. A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles (Hebrew אֲשֵׁרִים [’asherim], as here). They were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).
[10:2] 3 sn The same words. The care with which the replacement copy must be made underscores the importance of verbal precision in relaying the
[12:3] 4 sn Sacred pillars. These are the stelae (stone pillars; the Hebrew term is מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) associated with Baal worship, perhaps to mark a spot hallowed by an alleged visitation of the gods. See also Deut 7:5.
[12:3] 5 sn Sacred Asherah poles. The Hebrew term (plural) is אֲשֵׁרִים (’asherim). See note on the word “(leafy) tree” in v. 2, and also Deut 7:5.
