Keluaran 22:13

22:13 If it is torn in pieces, then he will bring it for evidence, ¹  and he will not have to pay for what was torn.

Ulangan 12:3

12:3 You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ²  burn up their sacred Asherah poles, ³  and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place.

Yosua 23:7

23:7 or associate with these nations that remain near ⁴  you. You must not invoke or make solemn declarations by the names of their gods! ⁵  You must not worship ⁶  or bow down to them!

Mazmur 16:4

16:4 their troubles multiply,

they desire other gods. ⁷ 

I will not pour out drink offerings of blood to their gods, ⁸ 

nor will I make vows in the name of their gods. ⁹ 

Yesaya 2:18

2:18 The worthless idols will be completely eliminated. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 2:20

2:20 At that time ¹¹  men will throw

their silver and gold idols,

which they made for themselves to worship, ¹² 

into the caves where rodents and bats live, ¹³ 

Yehezkiel 30:13

30:13 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

I will destroy the idols,

and put an end to the gods of Memphis.

There will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;

so I will make the land of Egypt fearful. ¹⁴ 

Yehezkiel 36:25

36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water ¹⁵  and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols.

Yehezkiel 37:23

37:23 They will not defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, and all their rebellious deeds. I will save them from all their unfaithfulness ¹⁶  by which they sinned. I will purify them; they will become my people and I will become their God.

Hosea 2:17

2:17 For ¹⁷  I will remove the names of the Baal idols ¹⁸  from your lips, ¹⁹ 

so that you will never again utter their names!” ²⁰ 

Hosea 14:8

14:8 O Ephraim, I do not want to have anything to do ²¹  with idols anymore!

I will answer him and care for him.

I am like ²²  a luxuriant cypress tree; ²³ 

your fruitfulness comes from me! ²⁴ 

Mikha 5:12-14

5:12 I will remove the sorcery ²⁵  that you practice, ²⁶ 

and you will no longer have omen readers living among you. ²⁷ 

5:13 I will remove your idols and sacred pillars from your midst;

you will no longer worship what your own hands made.

5:14 I will uproot your images of Asherah ²⁸  from your midst,

and destroy your idols. ²⁹ 

Zefanya 1:3-4

1:3 “I will destroy people and animals;

I will destroy the birds in the sky

and the fish in the sea.

(The idolatrous images of these creatures will be destroyed along with evil people.) ³⁰ 

I will remove ³¹  humanity from the face of the earth,” says the Lord.

1:4 “I will attack ³²  Judah

and all who live in Jerusalem. ³³ 

I will remove ³⁴  from this place every trace of Baal worship, ³⁵ 

as well as the very memory ³⁶  of the pagan priests. ³⁷ 

Zefanya 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ³⁸ 

for ³⁹  he will weaken ⁴⁰  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ⁴¹ 

[22:13]  ¹ tn The word עֵד (’ed) actually means “witness,” but the dead animal that is returned is a silent witness, i.e., evidence. The word is an adverbial accusative.

[12:3]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[23:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “with.”

[23:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “and in the name of their gods you must not invoke and you must not make solemn declarations.” The words “and you must not make solemn declarations” are omitted in the LXX and may represent a later scribal addition to elucidate the immediately preceding command. The Hiphil of שָׁבַע (shava’) without an object occurs only here and in Josh 6:26.

[23:7]  ⁶ tn Or “serve.”

[16:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “their troubles multiply, another, they pay a dowry.” The meaning of the text is unclear. The Hebrew term עַצְּבוֹתָם (’atsÿvotam, “troubles”) appears to be a plural form of עַצֶּבֶת (’atsÿvet, “pain, wound”; see Job 9:28; Ps 147:3). Because idolatry appears to be in view (see v. 4b), some prefer to emend the noun to עַצְּבִים (’atsÿvim, “idols”). “Troubles” may be a wordplay on “idols” or a later alteration designed to emphasize that idolatry leads to trouble. The singular form אחר (“another”) is syntactically problematic here. Perhaps the form should be emended to a plural אֲחֵרִים (’akherim, “others”). (The final mem [ם] could have been lost by haplography; note the mem [מ] at the beginning of the next word.) In this case it might be taken as an abbreviated form of the well-attested phrase אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים (’elohim ’akherim, “other gods”). (In Isa 42:8 the singular form אַחַר (’akher, “another”) is used of another god.) The verb מָהַר (mahar) appears in the Qal stem; the only other use of a Qal verbal form of a root מָהַר is in Exod 22:15, where the denominative verb מָהֹר (mahor, “purchase [a wife]”) appears; cf. the related noun מֹהַר (mohar, “bride money, purchase price for a wife”). If that verb is understood here, then the idolaters are pictured as eager bridegrooms paying the price to acquire the object of their desire. Another option is to emend the verb to a Piel and translate, “hurry (after).”

[16:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood.” The third masculine plural suffix would appear to refer back to the people/leaders mentioned in v. 3. However, if we emend אֲחֵר (’akher, “another”) to the plural אֲחֵרִים (’akherim, “other [gods]”) in v. 4, the suffix can be understood as referring to these gods – “the drink offerings [made to] them.” The next line favors this interpretation. Perhaps this refers to some type of pagan cultic ritual. Elsewhere wine is the prescribed content of drink offerings.

[16:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “and I will not lift up their names upon my lips.” The expression “lift up the name” probably refers here to swearing an oath in the name of deity (see Exod 20:7; Deut 5:11). If so, the third masculine plural suffix on “names” likely refers to the pagan gods, not the people/leaders. See the preceding note.

[2:18]  ¹⁰ tc The verb “pass away” is singular in the Hebrew text, despite the plural subject (“worthless idols”) that precedes. The verb should be emended to a plural; the final vav (ו) has been accidentally omitted by haplography (note the vav at the beginning of the immediately following form).

[2:18]  tn Heb “will completely pass away”; ASV “shall utterly pass away.”

[2:20]  ¹¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[2:20]  ¹² tn Or “bow down to.”

[2:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “to the shrews and to the bats.” On the meaning of חֲפַרְפָּרָה (khafarparah, “shrew”), see HALOT 341 s.v. חֲפַרְפָּרָה. The BHS text as it stands (לַחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת, perot lakhpor), makes no sense. Based on Theodotion’s transliteration and a similar reading in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, most scholars suggest that the MT mistakenly divided a noun (a hapax legomenon) that should be translated “moles,” “shrews,” or “rodents.”

[30:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will put fear in the land of Egypt.”

[36:25]  ¹⁵ sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.

[37:23]  ¹⁶ tc Heb “their dwellings.” The text as it stands does not make sense. Based on the LXX, a slight emendation of two vowels, including a mater, yields the reading “from their turning,” a reference here to their turning from God and deviating from his commandments. See BDB 1000 s.v. מְשׁוּבָה, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:407.

[2:17]  ¹⁷ tn The vav consecutive prefixed to וַהֲסִרֹתִי (vahasiroti) “I will remove” (vav consecutive + Hiphil perfect 1st person common singular) introduces an explanatory clause.

[2:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the Baals.” The singular term בַּעַל (ba’al) refers to the Canaanite god Baal himself, while the plural form הַבְּעָלִים (habbé’alim) refers to the manifestations of the god (i.e., idols; BDB 127 s.v. בָּעַל II.1).

[2:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from her mouth.” In the translation this is rendered as second person for consistency.

[2:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they will no longer be mentioned by their name.”

[14:8]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew expression מַה־לִּי עוֹד (mah-li ’od) is a formula of repudiation/emphatic denial that God has anything in common with idols: “I want to have nothing to do with […] any more!” Cf., e.g., Judg 11:12; 2 Sam 16:10; 19:23; 1 Kgs 17:18; 2 Kgs 3:13; 2 Chr 35:21; Jer 2:18; Ps 50:16; BDB 553 s.v. מָה 1.d.(c).

[14:8]  ²² tn The term “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity, as in the majority of English versions (including KJV).

[14:8]  ²³ tn Cf. KJV “a green fir tree”; NIV, NCV “a green pine tree”; NRSV “an evergreen cypress.”

[14:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “your fruit is found in me”; NRSV “your faithfulness comes from me.”

[5:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “magic charms” (so NCV, TEV); NIV, NLT “witchcraft”; NAB “the means of divination.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is uncertain, but note its use in Isa 47:9, 12.

[5:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from your hands.”

[5:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and you will not have omen-readers.”

[5:14]  ²⁸ tn Or “Asherah poles.”

[5:14]  sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, 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. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4). The Lord states that he will destroy these images, something the Israelites themselves should have done but failed to do.

[5:14]  ²⁹ tn The MT reads “your cities,” but many emend the text to צִרֶיךָ (tsirekha, “your images”) or עֲצַבֶּיךָ (’atsbbekha, “your idols”).

[1:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “And the stumbling blocks [or, “ruins”] with the evil”; or “the things that make the evil stumble.” The line does not appear in the original form of the LXX; it may be a later scribal addition. The present translation assumes the “stumbling blocks” are idolatrous images of animals, birds, and fish. See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 167, and Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB), 73-74.

[1:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:4]  ³² tn Heb “I will stretch out my hand against,” is an idiom for hostile action.

[1:4]  ³³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:4]  ³⁴ tn Heb “cut off.”

[1:4]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the remnant of Baal.”

[1:4]  ³⁶ tn Heb “name.” Here the “name” is figurative for the memory of those who bear it.

[1:4]  ³⁷ tc Heb “of the pagan priests and priests.” The first word (כְּמָרִים, kÿmarim) refers to idolatrous priests in its two other appearances in the OT (2 Kgs 23:5, Hos 10:5), while the second word (כֹּהֲנִים, kohanim) is the normal term for “priest” and is used of both legitimate and illegitimate priests in the OT. It is likely that the second term, which is omitted in the LXX, is a later scribal addition to the Hebrew text, defining the extremely rare word that precedes (see J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah [OTL], 167-68; cf. also NEB, NRSV). Some argue that both words are original; among the modern English versions that include both are NASB and NIV. Possibly the first word refers to outright pagan priests, while the second has in view once-legitimate priests of the Lord who had drifted into idolatrous practices. Another option is found in Adele Berlin, who translates, “the idolatrous priests among the priests,” understanding the second word as giving the general category of which the idolatrous priests are a part (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 75).

[2:11]  ³⁸ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ³⁹ tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  ⁴⁰ tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”

[2:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”