Exodus 20:3 (YLT)

Passage

`Thou hast no other Gods before Me.

Nearby Context

Exodus 20:1 `And God speaketh all these words, saying,

Exodus 20:2 I <FI>am<Fi> Jehovah thy God, who hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of a house of servants.

Exodus 20:3 `Thou hast no other Gods before Me.

Exodus 20:4 `Thou dost not make to thyself a graven image, or any likeness which <FI>is<Fi> in the heavens above, or which <FI>is<Fi> in the earth beneath, or which <FI>is<Fi> in the waters under the earth.

Exodus 20:5 Thou dost not bow thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, Jehovah thy God, <FI>am<Fi> a zealous God, charging iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third <FI>generation<Fi> , and on the fourth, of those hating Me,

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "I FI am Fi Jehovah thy God..." into verse 4's "Thou dost not make to thyself a...", so "thou" and "hast" 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 "thou" and "hast" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.