Exodus 34:12-14

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Exodus 34:12 tn The exact expression is “take heed to yourself lest you make.” It is the second use of this verb in the duties, now in the Niphal stem. To take heed to yourself means to watch yourself, be sure not to do something. Here, if they failed to do this, they would end up making entangling treaties.
2. Exodus 34:12 sn A snare would be a trap, an allurement to ruin. See Exod 23:33.
3. Exodus 34:13 tn Or “images of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “their Asherim”; NCV “their Asherah idols.”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).
4. Exodus 34:14 tn Heb “bow down.”
5. Exodus 34:14 sn In Exod 20:3 it was “gods.”
6. Exodus 34:14 sn Here, too, the emphasis on God’s being a jealous God is repeated (see Exod 20:5). The use of “name” here is to stress that this is his nature, his character.