Exodus 20:4

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Exodus 20:4 tn A פֶּסֶל (pesel) is an image that was carved out of wood or stone. The Law was concerned with a statue that would be made for the purpose of worship, an idol to be venerated, and not any ordinary statue.
2. Exodus 20:4 tn The word תְּמוּנָה (t^emunah) refers to the mental pattern from which the פֶּסֶל (pesel) is constructed; it is a real or imagined resemblance. If this is to stand as a second object to the verb, then the verb itself takes a slightly different nuance here. It would convey “you shall not make an image, neither shall you conceive a form” for worship (B. Jacob, Exodus, 547). Some simply make the second word qualify the first: “you shall not make an idol in the form of…” (NIV).
3. Exodus 20:4 tn Here the phrase “of anything” has been supplied.
4. Exodus 20:4 tn Heb “under the earth” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).