Leviticus 26:1

לֹֽא־תַעֲשׂוּ לָכֶם אֱלִילִם וּפֶסֶל וּמַצֵּבָה לֹֽא־תָקִימוּ לָכֶם וְאֶבֶן מַשְׂכִּית לֹא תִתְּנוּ בְּאַרְצְכֶם לְהִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֹת עָלֶיהָ כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

לֹֽא־תַעֲשׂ֨וּ לָכֶ֜ם אֱלִילִ֗ם וּפֶ֤סֶל וּמַצֵּבָה֙ לֹֽא־תָקִ֣ימוּ לָכֶ֔ם וְאֶ֣בֶן מַשְׂכִּ֗ית לֹ֤א תִתְּנוּ֙ בְּאַרְצְכֶ֔ם לְהִֽשְׁתַּחֲוֹ֖ת עָלֶ֑יהָ כִּ֛י אֲנִ֥י יְהוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν· οὐ ποιήσετε ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς χειροποίητα οὐδὲ γλυπτά, οὐδὲ στήλην ἀναστήσετε ὑμῖν, οὐδὲ λίθον σκοπὸν θήσετε ἐν τῇ γῇ ὑμῶν προσκυνῆσαι αὐτῷ· ἐγώ εἰμι Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Ego Dominus Deus vester: non facietis vobis idolum, et sculptile, nec titulos erigetis, nec insignem lapidem ponetis in terra vestra, ut adoretis eum. Ego enim sum Dominus Deus vester.

Spanish

“‘No se hagan ídolos, ni levanten imágenes talladas ni piedras sagradas. No pongan en su tierra piedras grabadas para inclinarse ante ellas, porque yo soy Yehová, su Dios.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

NO haréis para vosotros ídolos, ni escultura, ni os levantaréis estatua, ni pondréis en vuestra tierra piedra pintada para inclinaros á ella: porque yo soy Jehová vuestro Dios.

English

“ You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or sacred pillar; you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am the LORD your God.

✦ What the text says

Summary

Leviticus 26:1 prohibits the Israelites from making idols, images, or sacred pillars, and from placing carved stones in their land for worship. The verse closes with the self-identification formula "I am Yehovah your God," grounding the prohibition in the divine speaker's identity.

Key words

'elilim ("worthless idols", H0457) — masculine plural noun; the plural form suggests a general category of cultic objects, and the root is often linked to the idea of insufficiency or nothingness.
pesel ("an idol", H6459) — masculine singular; denotes a specific carved or hewn image, distinct from the plural 'elilim.
matzevah ("a sacred pillar", H4676) — feminine singular; a standing stone used in cultic contexts, syntactically parallel to pesel under the same verb taKimu ("you must set up", H6965).
maskit ("a carved image", H4906) — feminine singular, in construct with 'even ("stone", H0068), forming the phrase "a stone of image/figure."
hishtachavot ("to bow down", H7812) — infinitive construct introduced by le- ("to"), expressing purpose: the stone is not to be placed "in order to bow down" to it.

What the text says

The verse is built on three parallel prohibitions, each using lo' ("not", H3808) followed by a second-person masculine plural imperfect verb: ta'aSu ("you must make", H6213) with 'elilim and pesel; taKimu ("you must set up", H6965, hiphil) with matzevah; and titteNu ("you must make/give", H5414) with 'even maskit. This triple repetition of the negative particle plus imperfect verb creates a rhythmic, cumulative list of forbidden cultic objects rather than a single blanket statement.

The purpose clause lehishtachavot 'aleha ("to bow down to it") uses a feminine singular pronominal suffix -ha ("her/it", attached to 'aleha, H5921). Grammatically this suffix agrees with a feminine singular noun — either matzevah or maskit — rather than with the masculine pesel or the plural 'elilim, indicating that the bowing is grammatically tied to the closest or most recently mentioned feminine object in the list.

The closing clause, introduced by ki ("for/because", H3588), pairs the independent personal pronoun 'ani ("I", H0589) with the name Yehovah (H3068) and the construct phrase 'elohei-khem ("God of you[pl]", H0430 + suffix), producing the formula "I, Yehovah, [am] your God." The construct form 'elohei links directly to the suffix -khem, making the divine identity explicitly relational to the addressees.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew (TAHOT) places the formula "I am Yehovah your God" only at the end of the verse, after the prohibitions. Both the LXX (Ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν) and the Vulgate (Ego Dominus Deus vester) place this formula at the beginning of the verse as well as repeating it at the end, framing the prohibitions between two occurrences of the divine self-identification not present as a doublet in the Hebrew text given here.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.