Exodus 34:16

16 and you take of 1their daughters for your sons, and their daughters 2whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.

Exodus 34:16 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 34:16

And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons
That is, marry them to them, which explains what is meant by making a covenant with them, entering into such a near relation, and joining families, and thus intermixing with one another;

and their daughters go a whoring after their gods;
the worship of whom they have been trained up in from their infancy, and therefore hanker after them, and commit whoredom in a spiritual sense with them;

and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods;
by the means of tempting and drawing them into idolatrous practices, as the wives of Solomon were a snare to him.

Exodus 34:16 In-Context

14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice,
16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.
17 "You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.
18 "You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Deuteronomy 7:3, 4; 1 Kings 11:2; Ezra 9:2; Nehemiah 13:25
  • 2. [See ver. 15 above]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.