Exodus 32:20

32:20 He took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, ground it ¹  to powder, poured it out on the water, and made the Israelites drink it. ² 

Exodus 34:13-14

34:13 Rather you must destroy their altars, smash their images, and cut down their Asherah poles. ³  34:14 For you must not worship ⁴  any other god, ⁵  for the Lord, whose name ⁶  is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Numbers 33:52

33:52 you must drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images, all their molten images, ⁷  and demolish their high places.

Deuteronomy 7:5

7:5 Instead, this is what you must do to them: You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ⁸  cut down their sacred Asherah poles, ⁹  and burn up their idols.

Deuteronomy 7:25-26

7:25 You must burn the images of their gods, but do not covet the silver and gold that covers them so much that you take it for yourself and thus become ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent ¹⁰  to the Lord your God. 7:26 You must not bring any abhorrent thing into your house and thereby become an object of divine wrath ¹¹  along with it. ¹²  You must absolutely detest ¹³  and abhor it, ¹⁴  for it is an object of divine wrath.

Deuteronomy 12:3

12:3 You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ¹⁵  burn up their sacred Asherah poles, ¹⁶  and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place.

Deuteronomy 12:2

12:2 You must by all means destroy ¹⁷  all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods – on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. ¹⁸ 

Deuteronomy 34:3-7

34:3 the Negev, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of the date palm trees, as far as Zoar. 34:4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ¹⁹  I have let you see it, ²⁰  but you will not cross over there.”

34:5 So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab as the Lord had said. 34:6 He ²¹  buried him in the land of Moab near Beth Peor, but no one knows his exact burial place to this very day. 34:7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eye was not dull ²²  nor had his vitality ²³  departed.

[32:20]  ¹ tn Here “it” has been supplied.

[32:20]  ² tn Here “it” has been supplied.

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

[34:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “bow down.”

[34:14]  ⁵ sn In Exod 20:3 it was “gods.”

[34:14]  ⁶ sn Here, too, the emphasis on God’s being a jealous God is repeated (see Exod 20:5). The use of “name” here is to stress that this is his nature, his character.

[33:52]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text repeats the verb “you will destroy.”

[7:5]  ⁸ 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 Lord (Gen 28:18, 22; 31:13; 35:14; Exod 24:4), these pillars were usually associated with pagan cults and rituals (Exod 23:24; 34:13; Deut 12:3; 1 Kgs 14:23; 2 Kgs 17:10; Hos 3:4; 10:1; Jer 43:13).

[7:5]  ⁹ 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).

[7:25]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abhorrent; detestable”) describes anything detestable to the Lord because of its innate evil or inconsistency with his own nature and character. Frequently such things (or even persons) must be condemned to annihilation (חֵרֶם, kherem) lest they become a means of polluting or contaminating others (cf. Deut 13:17; 20:17-18). See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:315.

[7:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “come under the ban” (so NASB); NRSV “be set apart for destruction.” The same phrase occurs again at the end of this verse.

[7:26]  ¹² tn Or “like it is.”

[7:26]  ¹³ tn This Hebrew verb (שָׁקַץ, shaqats) is essentially synonymous with the next verb (תָעַב, ta’av; cf. תּוֹעֵבָה, to’evah; see note on the word “abhorrent” in v. 25), though its field of meaning is more limited to cultic abomination (cf. Lev 11:11, 13; Ps 22:25).

[7:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “detesting you must detest and abhorring you must abhor.” Both verbs are preceded by a cognate infinitive absolute indicating emphasis.

[12:3]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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.

[12:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “destroying you must destroy”; KJV “Ye shall utterly (surely ASV) destroy”; NRSV “must demolish completely.” The Hebrew infinitive absolute precedes the verb for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by the words “by all means.”

[12:2]  ¹⁸ sn Every leafy tree. This expression refers to evergreens which, because they keep their foliage throughout the year, provided apt symbolism for nature cults such as those practiced in Canaan. The deity particularly in view is Asherah, wife of the great god El, who was considered the goddess of fertility and whose worship frequently took place at shrines near or among clusters (groves) of such trees (see also Deut 7:5). See J. Hadley, NIDOTTE 1:569-70; J. DeMoor, TDOT 1:438-44.

[34:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

[34:4]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text includes “with your eyes,” but this is redundant in English and is left untranslated.

[34:6]  ²¹ tc Smr and some LXX mss read “they buried him,” that is, the Israelites. The MT reads “he buried him,” meaning in the context that “the Lord buried him.” This understanding, combined with the statement at the end of the verse that Moses’ burial place is unknown, gave rise to traditions during the intertestamental period that are reflected in the NT in Jude 9 and in OT pseudepigraphic works like the Assumption of Moses.

[34:7]  ²² tn Or “dimmed.” The term could refer to dull appearance or to dimness caused by some loss of visual acuity.

[34:7]  ²³ tn Heb “sap.” That is, he was still in possession of his faculties or liveliness.