Exodus 20:23

Summary

Exodus 20:23 prohibits making gods of silver or gold, expressed in two parallel negative clauses. The first clause specifies this prohibition in relation to the divine "I" ('iti, "with me"), while the second repeats the prohibition using a different reflexive expression (lakhem, "for yourselves").

Key words

• lo' ("not", H3808) — negation particle, repeated at the start of each clause, producing a doubled prohibition.
• ta'aSun ("you must make", H6213) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural, with a paragogic nun (H9013) attached, an archaic/emphatic verbal ending not present on the verb's second occurrence.
• 'iti ("with me", H0854 + 1st person suffix H9030) — preposition plus pronominal suffix, marking the first clause's object of comparison as the speaker himself.
• 'elohei ("gods of", H0430) — masculine plural construct, appearing twice to introduce the construct pairs "gods of silver" (kesef, H3701) and "gods of gold" (zahav, H2091).
• lakhem ("for yourselves", H9005 + H9036) — preposition with article and 2nd person masculine plural suffix, closing the second clause.

What the text says

The verse is built as two structurally parallel prohibitions, each opening with lo' ("not") and a form of the verb ta'aSu/ta'aSun ("you shall make"). The first clause ends with 'iti ("with me"), placing the prohibited objects — 'elohei kesef ("gods of silver") and 'elohei zahav ("gods of gold") — in relation to the speaker. The second clause restates the same core verb without the paragogic nun, and closes instead with lakhem ("for yourselves"), shifting the referent from the divine "me" to the human "you."

The presence of the paragogic nun on the first verb (ta'aSun) but not the second (ta'aSu) is a grammatical feature visible only in the Hebrew; it does not change the basic meaning "you shall make" but marks a stylistic variation between the two otherwise identical verb forms. The repetition of 'elohei in construct with two different materials (kesef, "silver"; zahav, "gold") creates a paired construction "gods of X," a common construct-chain pattern in Biblical Hebrew for material composition.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew 'iti ("with me") in the first clause has no direct equivalent in the Vulgate, which reads simply "Non facietis deos argenteos" ("you shall not make gods of silver") without any phrase corresponding to "with me." The LXX renders the first clause with ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς ("for yourselves"), which parallels the second Hebrew clause's lakhem rather than the first clause's 'iti. Among the modern translations, BSB ("alongside Me") and RV1909 ("conmigo") preserve the Hebrew 'iti, while SBLIBRE's "para ponerlos a mi nivel" ("to place them at my level") is an interpretive rendering of the same phrase not literally present in the Hebrew wording.