Exodus 20:3 (WEB)

Passage

“You shall have no other gods before me.

Nearby Context

Exodus 20:1 God spoke all these words, saying,

Exodus 20:2 “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Exodus 20:5 you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "other", "gods", and "before". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "other", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "I am Yahweh your God who brought..." into verse 4's "You shall not make for yourselves an...", so "shall" and "other" belong inside that flow. In Exodus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shall" and "other" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.