Exodus 20:4

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image ¹  or any likeness ²  of anything ³  that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. ⁴ 

Ex 32:1,8,23; Ex 34:17; Le 19:4; Le 26:1; De 4:15-19,23-25; De 5:8; De 27:15; 1Ki 12:28; 2Ch 33:7; Ps 97:7; Ps 115:4-8; Ps 135:15-18; Isa 40:18-20; Isa 42:8,17; Isa 44:9-20; Isa 45:16; Isa 46:5-8; Jer 10:3-5,8,9,14-16; Eze 8:10; Ac 17:29; Ac 19:26-35; Ro 1:23; Re 9:20; Re 13:14,15; Re 14:9-11; Re 16:2

¹ tn A פֶּסֶל (pesel) is an image that was carved out of wood or stone. The Law was concerned with a statue that would be made for the purpose of worship, an idol to be venerated, and not any ordinary statue.

² tn The word תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) refers to the mental pattern from which the פֶּסֶל (pesel) is constructed; it is a real or imagined resemblance. If this is to stand as a second object to the verb, then the verb itself takes a slightly different nuance here. It would convey “you shall not make an image, neither shall you conceive a form” for worship (B. Jacob, Exodus, 547). Some simply make the second word qualify the first: “you shall not make an idol in the form of…” (NIV).

³ tn Here the phrase “of anything” has been supplied.

⁴ tn Heb “under the earth” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).