“You must not make any idols. [124] Don’t make any statues or pictures of anything up in the sky or of anything on the earth or of anything down in the water.
I sent my prophets to those people again and again. Those prophets were my servants. Those prophets spoke my message and said to the people, ‘Don’t do this terrible thing. I hate for you to worship idols.’
Don’t make secret plans to hurt your neighbors! Don’t make false promises! You must not enjoy doing those things. Why? Because I hate those things!” The Lord said these things.
Don’t do that to the Lord your God! {Don’t worship God like that! Why?} Because those people do all kinds of bad things that the Lord hates. They even burn their children as sacrifices to their gods!
So be careful! Don’t sin and destroy yourselves by making false gods or statues in the shape of any living thing. Don’t make an idol that looks like a man or a woman.
In that new land, you must be careful not to forget the Agreement that the Lord your God made with you. You must obey the Lord’s command. Don’t make any idols in any form!
“You will live in the country a long time. You will have children and grandchildren there. You will grow old there. And then you will ruin your lives—you will make all kinds of idols! When you do that, you will make God very angry!