Exodus 34:17

34:17 You must not make yourselves molten gods.

Exodus 20:23

20:23 You must not make gods of silver alongside me, nor make gods of gold for yourselves.


tn The direct object of the verb must be “gods of silver.” The prepositional phrase modifies the whole verse to say that these gods would then be alongside the one true God.

tn Heb “neither will you make for you gods of gold.”

sn U. Cassuto explains that by the understanding of parallelism each of the halves apply to the whole verse, so that “with me” and “for you” concern gods of silver or gods of gold (Exodus, 255).