Exodus 20:5-6

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Read all of Exodus 20

10 songs meet this passage

  • I Don't Want to Wait · Paula Cole

    strains against Exodus 20:5-6

    Scripture names generational patterns of sin passed down, but here the singer actively resists repeating that inheritance rather than succumbing to it, a hopeful departure from the pattern.

  • “My church offers no absolutes, she tells me, worship in the bedroom”

    Take Me to Church · Hozier

    strains against Exodus 20:3-5

    The lover becomes an explicit replacement object of worship, directly inverting the command to have no other gods.

  • “I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there”

    Like a Prayer · Madonna

    strains against Exodus 20:3-5

    Kneeling, the posture of worship, is here given to romantic/sexual longing instead of God, echoing the pattern of misplaced devotion.

  • “A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees”

    Black Velvet · Alannah Myles

    strains against Exodus 20:3-5

    The song casually frames devotion to a man as a 'religion' that brings people to their knees, language Scripture reserves for worship of God alone.

  • “I could bow and feel proud in the light of this power”

    The Most Beautiful Girl in the World · Prince

    strains against Exodus 20:3-5

    The language of bowing before another's 'power' brushes against worship language reserved for God, even in a romantic context.

  • “You'll believe God is a woman”

    God is a woman · Ariana Grande

    strains against Exodus 20:4-5

    The song recasts the self as an object of worship ('God'), which stands against the call to worship no image or likeness in place of the Creator.

  • “I know you were just like me”

    Numb · LINKIN PARK

    strains against Exodus 20:5

    The song names the generational repetition of disappointment without any vision for how that cycle might be broken, where Scripture points to redemption breaking such patterns.

  • “the apple don't fall far from the tree”

    Apple · Charli xcx

    resonates with Exodus 20:5

    The fear that sin and patterns pass down through generations is an old, biblically recognized anxiety, though Scripture also offers ways that chain can be broken.

  • “The kids of tomorrow don't need today”

    Red Flag · Billy Talent

    strains against Exodus 20:5

    Scripture acknowledges generational sin patterns but frames them as something God addresses through covenant faithfulness, not simply human defiance alone.

  • Stay · Shakespears Sister

    strains against Exodus 20:5

    Demanding total, exclusive devotion mirrors a jealousy that belongs to God alone; here it's a human voice claiming that place over another person.

Elsewhere in Exodus 20