Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.
Ye shall make you no idols, х 'ªliylim (H457)] - nothings (see the note at Leviticus 19:4). Idolatry had been previously forbidden (Exodus 20:4-5); but the law was repeated here with reference to some particular forms of it that were very prevalent among the neighbouring nations х uwpecel (H6459), a carved image of an idol] (see the note at Exodus 20:4).
A standing image, х uwmatseebaah (H4676)] - i:e., upright pillar (see the note at Genesis 28:18; also Exodus 23:24).
Any image of stone, х 'eben (H68)] - i:e., an obelisk, inscribed with hieroglyphical and superstitious characters. The former ousted the common and smaller pillars of the Syrians or Canaanites; the latter pointed to the large and elaborate obelisks which the Egyptians worshipped as guardian divinities, or used as stones of adoration to stimulate religious worship. Keil and Delitzsch consider maskith (see the note at Numbers 33:52), here distinguished from pesel, an idol of wood (Isaiah 44:15). The Israelites were enjoined to beware of them.