Thou shalt have no other gods before me

"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" (לא יהיה־לך אלהים אחרים על־פני) is one, or part of one depending on the numbering tradition used, of the Ten Commandments found in the Hebrew Bible at and . According to the Bible, the commandment was originally given to the ancient Israelites by Yahweh at biblical Mount Sinai after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt, as described in the Book of Exodus. Prohibition of idolatry is the central tenet of the Abrahamic religions and the sin of worshipping another god other than the Lord is called idolatry. Historically, the punishment for idolatry was often death. The Bible describes how the ancient Israelites, despite being strictly warned not to do so, repeatedly engaged in idolatry and were therefore punished severely by the Lord. Many of the stories in the Bible from the time of Moses to the Babylonian captivity are predicated on the choice between exclusive worship of the Lord and false gods. The Babylonian exile, itself a punishment for idolatry, seems to have been a turning point after which the Jews became committed to monotheism, even when facing martyrdom before worshipping any other god. The Jewish prayer Shema Yisrael and its accompanying blessing/curse reveals the intent of the commandment to include love for the Lord and not only recognition or outward observance. In the Gospels, Jesus quotes the Shema as the first and Greatest Commandment, and the apostles after him preached that those who would follow Christ must turn from worshipping false gods. Christian theologians teach that the commandment applies in modern times and prohibits the worship of , the seeking of spiritual activity or guidance from any other source (e.g. magical, astrological, etc.), and the focus on temporal priorities such as self (food, physical pleasures), work, and money, for example. The Catholic Catechism commends those who refuse even to simulate such worship in a cultural context, since “the duty to offer God authentic worship concerns man both as an individual and as a social being.