Exodus 23:24

23:24 “You must not bow down to their gods; you must not serve them or do according to their practices. Instead you must completely overthrow them and smash their standing stones ¹  to pieces. ² 

Exodus 34:13

34:13 Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles. ³ 

Exodus 12:46

12:46 It must be eaten in one house; you must not bring any of the meat outside the house, and you must not break a bone of it.

Exodus 22:14

22:14 “If a man borrows an animal ⁴  from his neighbor, and it is hurt or dies when its owner was not with it, the man who borrowed it ⁵  will surely pay.

Exodus 9:25

9:25 The hail struck everything in the open fields, both ⁶  people and animals, throughout all the land of Egypt. The hail struck everything that grows ⁷  in the field, and it broke all the trees of the field to pieces.

Exodus 22:10

22:10 If a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep, and it dies or is hurt ⁸  or is carried away ⁹  without anyone seeing it, ¹⁰ 

Exodus 32:19

32:19 When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses became extremely angry. ¹¹  He threw the tablets from his hands and broke them to pieces at the bottom of the mountain. ¹² 

Exodus 34:1

The New Tablets of the Covenant

34:1 ¹³ The Lord said to Moses, “Cut out ¹⁴  two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write ¹⁵  on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you smashed.

[23:24]  ¹ tn The Hebrew is מַצֵּבֹתֵיהֶם (matsevotehem, “their standing stones”); these long stones were erected to represent the abode of the numen or deity. They were usually set up near the altar or the high place. To destroy these would be to destroy the centers of Canaanite worship in the land.

[23:24]  ² tn Both verbs are joined with their infinitive absolutes to provide the strongest sense to these instructions. The images of the false gods in Canaan were to be completely and utterly destroyed. This could not be said any more strongly.

[34:13]  ³ tn Or “images of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “their Asherim”; NCV “their Asherah idols.”

[22:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “if a man asks [an animal] from his neighbor” (see also Exod 12:36). The ruling here implies an animal is borrowed, and if harm comes to it when the owner is not with it, the borrower is liable. The word “animal” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[22:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man who borrowed the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:25]  ⁷ tn The exact expression is “from man even to beast.” R. J. Williams lists this as an example of the inclusive use of the preposition מִן (min) to be rendered “both…and” (Hebrew Syntax, 57, §327).

[9:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “all the cultivated grain of.”

[22:10]  ⁹ tn The form is a Niphal participle from the verb “to break” – “is broken,” which means harmed, maimed, or hurt in any way.

[22:10]  ¹⁰ tn This verb is frequently used with the meaning “to take captive.” The idea here then is that raiders or robbers have carried off the animal.

[22:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “there is no one seeing.”

[32:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the anger of Moses burned hot.”

[32:19]  ¹² sn See N. M. Waldham, “The Breaking of the Tablets,” Judaism 27 (1978): 442-47.

[34:1]  ¹³ sn The restoration of the faltering community continues in this chapter. First, Moses is instructed to make new tablets and take them to the mountain (1-4). Then, through the promised theophany God proclaims his moral character (5-8). Moses responds with the reiteration of the intercession (8), and God responds with the renewal of the covenant (10-28). To put these into expository form, as principles, the chapter would run as follows: I. God provides for spiritual renewal (1-4), II. God reminds people of his moral standard (5-9), III. God renews his covenant promises and stipulations (10-28).

[34:1]  ¹⁴ tn The imperative is followed by the preposition with a suffix expressing the ethical dative; it strengthens the instruction for Moses. Interestingly, the verb “cut out, chisel, hew,” is the same verb from which the word for a “graven image” is derived – פָּסַל (pasal).

[34:1]  ¹⁵ tn The perfect tense with vav consecutive makes the value of this verb equal to an imperfect tense, probably a simple future here.