Deuteronomy 12:3

And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
overthrow	וְנִתַּצְתֶּ֣ם ve.ni.tatz.Tem	H5422	to tear down · conjunction + verb, piel sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
altars	מִזְבּחֹתָ֗ם miz.b.cho.Tam	H4196	an altar · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
break	וְשִׁבַּרְתֶּם֙ ve.shi.bar.Tem	H7665	to burst (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, piel sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
pillars	מַצֵּ֣בֹתָ֔ם ma.Tze.vo.Tam	H4676	something stationed · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
burn	תִּשְׂרְפ֣וּן tis.re.Fun	H8313	to be (causatively · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural + paragogic nun
groves	וַאֲשֵֽׁרֵיהֶם֙ va.'a.she.rei.Hem	H842	Asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddess · conjunction + noun, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
fire	בָּאֵ֔שׁ ba.'Esh	H784	fire (literally or figuratively) · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
down	תְּגַדֵּע֑וּן te.ga.de.'Un	H1438	to fell a tree · verb, piel imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural + paragogic nun
images	וּפְסִילֵ֥י u.fe.si.Lei	H6456	an idol · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct
gods	אֱלֹֽהֵיהֶ֖ם 'e.lo.hei.Hem	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
destroy	וְאִבַּדְתֶּ֣ם ve.'i.bad.Tem	H6	properly · conjunction + verb, piel sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
names	שְׁמָ֔ם she.Mam	H8034	an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
place	הַמָּק֖וֹם ha.ma.Kom	H4725	properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Numbers 33:52 Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images…
Judges 2:2 And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have y…
Zechariah 13:2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall n…
Psalms 16:4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names in…
Exodus 23:13 And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of th…
Deuteronomy 7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their grav…
1 Kings 15:13 And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and…
2 Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for u…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 12:1-4

From those great original truths, That there is a God, and that there is but one God, arise those great fundamental laws, That that God is to be worshipped, and he only, and that therefore we are to have no other God before him: this is the first commandment, and the second is a guard upon it, or a hedge about it. To prevent a revolt to false gods, we are forbidden to worship the true God in such a way and manner as the false gods were worshipped in, and are commanded to observe the instituted ordinances of worship that we may adhere to the proper object of worship. For this reason Moses is very large in his exposition of the second commandment. What is contained in this and the four followi…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 12:3

And ye shall overthrow their altars--piles of turf or small stones. and break their pillars--Before the art of sculpture was known, the statues of idols were only rude blocks of colored stones.

John Gill on Deuteronomy 12:3

And you shall overthrow their altars,.... Which were of stone, as Jarchi observes; whereas the altar ordered to be made by the Lord, before the altar of burnt offering in the tabernacle was made, was of earth, Exodus 20:24 these were to be demolished, lest the Israelites should be tempted to make use of them; and besides, the Lord would not have any remains of idolatry in the land where his tabernacle and worship were, as being abominable to him: and break down their pillars; or statues erected to the honour of their idols; according to Jarchi it was a single stone hewed out at first for the basis of a statue (y); perhaps such as were called Baetulia, in imitation of the stone Jacob set up…

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John Calvin on Deuteronomy 12:1-3

Deuteronomy 12:1-3 1. These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth. 1. Haec sunt statuta et judicia quae custodietis, ut faciatis in terra quam daturus est Jehova Deus patrum tuorum tibi, quo possideatis eam omnibus diebus quibns vos vivetis super terrain illam. 2. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: 2. Destruendo destruetis omnia loca in quibus servierunt gentes quas possessuri estis, diis suis, super montes excels…

The Church Fathers

Give no credit to their words, neither be afraid of them. They say that we are enemies of their idols. So be it; may God give them all into our power, as he has already given us what we have broken down. For I say this, beloved, that you may not attempt to overcome those which it is not lawfully in your power to overcome. It is the way of ill-regulated men and the mad Circumcelliones to be violent when they have no power and to be ever eager to die without cause. You heard what we read to you, all of you who were present in the Mappalia: 2 "When the land shall have been given into your power"—he says first "into your power" and so enjoins what is to be done—"then you shall destroy their altars and break in pieces their groves, and hew down all their images." When the power has not been given us, do not do it; when it is given, do not neglect it.
— Augustine of Hippo, SERMONS ON NEW TESTAMENT LESSONS 12.17

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

High place — An eminence, natural or artificial, where worship by sacrifice or offerings was made (1 Kings 13:32; 2 Kings 17:29). The first altar after the Flood was built on a mountain (Gen. 8:20). Abraham also…
Groves · Of Canaanites, to be destroyed — Of Canaanites, to be destroyed
Pillar · Mo — Mo

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Deuteronomy 12:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 12:1-4

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 12:3

John Gill on Deuteronomy 12:3

John Calvin on Deuteronomy 12:1-3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Deuteronomy 12:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 12:1-4

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 12:3

John Gill on Deuteronomy 12:3

John Calvin on Deuteronomy 12:1-3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Deuteronomy 12:1-14

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Deuteronomy 12:3

Rashi on Deuteronomy 12:3