What Does Exodus 34:13 Mean in the King James?
But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse makes allegiance material: rival worship is embodied in altars, standing pillars, and Asherah installations that the command names for demolition.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks as an uncompromising command: altars are demolished, standing pillars shattered, and Asherah cult objects cut down. Its targets are physical installations, and its force is materially destructive. The KJV’s “groves” names the Asherim, cult objects or wooden installations associated with Asherah.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that exclusive allegiance can leave competing sacred installations intact: the verse calls for their demolition.
THE ROOT
מִזְבְּחֹתֵיהֶם
mizbechoteihem
GROWS FROM
זבח
To slaughter or sacrifice.
“altars” in this verse is mizbechoteihem. The Hebrew mizbeach, “altar,” grows from zabach, the act of slaughtering or sacrificing. The word brings the act of sacrifice into the name of the place, making the command concrete: it targets sites where sacrifice is enacted.
ALSO GROWS
zavach: To slaughter; to offer a sacrifice.
זָבַח
This verb names the act carried out at the altar.
zevach: Slaughter or sacrifice.
זֶבַח
This noun connects the altar to the sacrifice it receives.
mizbeach: Altar; a place of sacrifice.
מִזְבֵּחַ
The singular form retains the root’s connection to sacrificial action.
מַצֵּבֹתֵיהֶם
matsevoteihem
GROWS FROM
נצב
To stand, set up, or station.
“images” in this verse is matsevoteihem. The Hebrew word points to standing pillars or stones, objects set upright as cult markers. The command reaches the erected objects themselves: they are to be shattered.
ALSO GROWS
natsav: To stand or set in place.
נָצַב
The verb supplies the image of an object made to stand.
matsevah: A standing pillar or stone.
מַצֵּבָה
This is the singular form of the kind of object named in the verse.
תִּכְרֹתוּן
tikhretun
GROWS FROM
כרת
To cut or sever.
“cut down” in this verse is tikhretun. Karat means to cut or sever, and the same verb appears in the Hebrew idiom for making a covenant: “cut a covenant.” The verb here connects cutting down the Asherim with the language of covenant and decisive severance.
ALSO GROWS
karat: To cut or cut off.
כָּרַת
This is the verb behind the command to cut down.
karat berit: To cut a covenant.
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The same verb links severing with the making of a covenant.
keritut: Severance or cutting off.
כְּרִיתוּת
This noun carries the root’s sense of a decisive separation.
THE PATTERN
Exclusive allegiance takes material form in dismantling the installations of rival worship.
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 graven images with fire.And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men.Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.THE THREAD
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:The Hebrew verb behind “cut down” is karat, the same verb hidden behind “made a covenant” in Genesis 15:18. Hebrew joins the severing of the Asherim and the cutting of covenant through one root, giving the command’s language the edge of covenant allegiance.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us