What Does Exodus 34:14 Mean in the King James?

For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

Exodus 34:14 · KJV

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 jealousy the LORD’s name, so exclusive worship is presented as the nature of the bond, not a detachable rule.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s claim is exclusive: no other god receives worship, and jealousy is named as part of the LORD’s nature. This is ardent, possessive jealousy; divided devotion is a breach of the bond, not a harmless variation.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that worship is interchangeable or divided devotion has no consequence: this verse names the LORD as jealous and the bond as exclusive.

THE ROOT

קַנָּא

qannāʾ

GROWS FROM

קנא

To be jealous or zealous.

“Jealous” in this verse is qannāʾ. The same root carries jealousy and zeal, linking the LORD’s named nature to an ardent claim on the bond. Here, exclusive worship is presented as part of that nature.

ALSO GROWS

qinʾāh: Jealousy, zeal.

קִנְאָה

This noun shares the same root and keeps both jealousy and zeal within the word’s range.

qinnēʾ: To be jealous or to act zealously.

קִנֵּא

This verb shows the root in action: the quality named in the verse can also describe an active claim.

תִּשְׁתַּחֲוֶה

tishtachaveh

GROWS FROM

שחה

To bow low or prostrate oneself.

The Hebrew verb describes a posture of bowing. It makes worship bodily and visible: the verse’s exclusive claim includes where the reader bows.

ALSO GROWS

lehishtachavot: To bow down, to prostrate oneself.

לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֹת

This infinitive preserves the physical posture carried by the verse’s verb.

mishtachaveh: One who bows down.

מִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה

This participle names the person taking that posture, connecting worship with enacted allegiance.

THE PATTERN

The bond with the LORD is presented as exclusive, and divided worship is treated as a breach of that bond.

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Exodus 20:5 · KJVThe command against bowing to other gods is joined directly to the LORD’s declaration of jealousy.

For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 4:24 · KJVThe verse names the LORD as jealous and gives that claim the force of consuming fire.

Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?

1 Corinthians 10:22 · KJVThe question carries the language of jealousy into the reader’s present relationship with the Lord.

THE THREAD

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Exodus 20:5 · KJV

Exodus 20:5 uses the same Hebrew title, ⁨אֵל קַנָּא⁩ (ʾEl qannāʾ, “a jealous God”), beside the command not to bow before other gods. The repeated q-n-ʾ root makes jealousy a named feature of the bond.

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