KJV King James Version
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.
VERSE STUDY • KJV
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.
Read it in 5 translations
BSB Berean Standard Bible
Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.
WEB World English Bible
and you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods; and you shall destroy their name out of that place.
ASV American Standard Version
and ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods; and ye shall destroy their name out of that place.
YLT Young’s Literal Translation
and ye have broken down their altars, and shivered their standing pillars, and their shrines ye burn with fire, and graven images of their gods ye cut down, and have destroyed their name out of that place.
Surrounding context — Deuteronomy 12
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.
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:
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.
4 Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.
5 But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, [even] unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:
6 And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:
Topics connected to this verse
Original-language word links
These Hebrew/Greek tokens are linked by Strong's number. Click one for its lexicon definition and other occurrences.
וְנִתַּצְתֶּ֣םH5422 · na.tatsto tearאֶת־H853 · et[Obj.]מִזְבּחֹתָ֗םH4196 · miz.be.achaltarוְשִׁבַּרְתֶּם֙H7665 · sha.varto breakאֶת־H853 · et[Obj.]מַצֵּ֣בֹתָ֔םH4676 · mats.tse.vahpillarוַאֲשֵֽׁרֵיהֶם֙H842 · a.she.rahAsherahתִּשְׂרְפ֣וּןH8313 · sa.raphto burnבָּאֵ֔שׁH784 · eshfireוּפְסִילֵ֥יH6456 · pe.silidolאֱלֹֽהֵיהֶ֖םH430 · e.lo.himGodתְּגַדֵּע֑וּןH1438 · ga.dato cut down/offוְאִבַּדְתֶּ֣םH6 · a.vadto perishאֶת־H853 · et[Obj.]שְׁמָ֔םH8034 · shemnameמִן־H4480 · minfromהַמָּק֖וֹםH4725 · ma.qomplaceהַהֽוּא׃H1931 · huhe/she/it
Cross-references
Judges 2:2And 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 ye done this?Zechariah 13:2And 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 no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.Numbers 33:52Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:Psalm 16:4Their sorrows shall be multiplied [that] hasten [after] another [god]: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.Deuteronomy 7:5But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.Exodus 23:13And 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 thy mouth.2 Kings 23:14And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.Jeremiah 17:2Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.Micah 5:14And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.2 Chronicles 19:3Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.Hosea 2:17For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.2 Chronicles 34:3For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.1 Kings 15:13And 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 burnt [it] by the brook Kidron.2 Kings 18:4He 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 unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.2 Chronicles 31:1Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities.Revelation 13:1And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.2 Chronicles 14:3For he took away the altars of the strange [gods], and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves:
HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION
Compare classic commentaries on Deuteronomy 12:3
Put Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, Calvin, Wesley, Barnes, Jamieson–Fausset–Brown, Aquinas’ Catena and other public-domain sources beside the passage.
Compare commentaries →