Deuteronomy 4:19

Deuteronomy 4:19 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
• New International Version (NIV)And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
• English Standard Version (ESV)And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
• New King James Version (NKJV)And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.

Context of Deuteronomy 4:19

17the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, or of any winged bird that flies in the sky, 18the likeness of anything that crawls on the ground, or of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. And beware that you do not raise your eyes toward heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and let yourselves be led astray and worship them and serve them, [mere created bodies] which the Lord your God has allotted to [serve and benefit] all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron [smelting] furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as [you are] this day. 21“Now the Lord was angry with me [at the waters of Meribah] because of you, and He swore [an oath] that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Deuteronomy 4:19 word by word

וּפֶן־תִּשָּׂ֨א עֵינֶ֜יךָ הַשָּׁמַ֗יְמָה וְֽ֠רָאִיתָ אֶת־הַשֶּׁ֨מֶשׁ וְאֶת־הַיָּרֵ֜חַ וְאֶת־הַכּֽוֹכָבִ֗ים כֹּ֚ל צְבָ֣א הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְנִדַּחְתָּ֛ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִ֥יתָ לָהֶ֖ם וַעֲבַדְתָּ֑ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר חָלַ֜ק יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ אֹתָ֔ם לְכֹל֙ הָֽעַמִּ֔ים תַּ֖חַת כָּל־הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And lest thou lift upנָשָׂאnâώâ' nâsâh · to lift: raiseH5375
• thine eyesעַ֫יִן‛ayin · eyeH5869
• unto heavenשָׁמַיִםshâmayim shâmeh · heavenH8064
• and when thou seestרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: seeH7200
• the sunשֶׁ֫מֶשׁshemesh · sunH8121
• and the moonיָרֵחַyârêach · moonH3394
• and the starsכּוֹכָבkôkâb · starH3556
• all the hostצָבָאtsâbâ' tsebâ'âh · armyH6635
• shouldest be drivenנָדַחnâdach · to banishH5080
• to worshipשָׁחָהshâchâh · to bowH7812
• them, and serveעָבַד‛âbad · to serve: ministerH5647
• them, which the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• thy Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• hath dividedחָלַקchâlaq · to divideH2505
• unto all nationsעַם‛am · peopleH5971

Cross-references for Deuteronomy 4:19

• Deuteronomy 17:3and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the heavenly host, [doing these things] which I have commanded not to do,
• 2 Kings 23:4Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the doorkeepers to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal, for [the goddess] Asherah, and for all the [starry] host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel [where Israel’s idolatry began].
• Job 31:26If I beheld the sun [as an object of worship] when it shone Or the moon going in its splendor,
• Jeremiah 8:2They will [carelessly scatter and] spread them out before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which the dead have loved and which they have served, and which they have walked after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried; they will be like dung on the face of the earth.
• Ezekiel 8:16So He brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch (vestibule, portico) and the [bronze] altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing down toward the east and worshiping the sun.
• Amos 5:25“Did you bring Me sacrifices and grain offerings during those forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? [Certainly not!]
• Genesis 2:1So the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts (inhabitants).
• 2 Kings 17:16They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves cast images of two calves; and they made an Asherah [idol] and worshiped all the [starry] host of heaven and served Baal.
• 2 Kings 21:3For he rebuilt the high places [for the worship of pagan gods] which his father Hezekiah had destroyed; and he set up altars for Baal and made an [image of] Asherah, just as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he worshiped all the [starry] host of heaven and served them.
• Jeremiah 19:13The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth, all the houses on whose rooftops incense has been burned to all the host of heaven (sun, moon, stars), and where drink offerings have been poured out to other gods.” ’ ”
• Zephaniah 1:5And those who bow down and worship the host of heaven [the sun, the moon, and the stars] on their housetops And those who bow down and swear [oaths] to [and pretend to worship] the Lord and [yet also] swear by [the pagan god called] Milcom [god of the Ammonites],
• Acts 7:42But God turned away [from them] and handed them over to serve the host of heaven. As it is written and forever remains written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not [really] to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?
• Romans 1:25because [by choice] they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
• Genesis 1:16God made the two great lights—the greater light (the sun) to rule the day, and the lesser light (the moon) to rule the night; He made the [galaxies of] stars also [that is, all the amazing wonders in the heavens].
• Joshua 10:12Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord handed over the Amorites to the sons of Israel, and Joshua said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, And moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
• Nehemiah 9:6[And Ezra said], “You are the Lord, You alone; You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host (the heavenly bodies), The earth and everything that is on it, The seas and everything that is in them. You give life to all of them, And the heavenly host is bowing down [in worship] to You.

Commentaries on Deuteronomy 4:19

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 19When thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars - The worship of the heavenly bodies was the oldest species of idolatry. Those who had not the knowledge of the true God were led to consider the sun, moon, planets, and stars, as not only self-existing, but the authors of all the blessings possessed by mankind. The knowledge of a rational system of astronomy served to destroy this superstition; and very little of it remains now in the world, except…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 19Divided - i. e., “whose light God has distributed to the nations for their use and benefit, and which therefore being creatures ministering to man‘s convenience must not be worshipped as man‘s lords.”Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 19host of heaven: This phrase refers to stars and other celestial bodies. People once thought they represented gods. Instead, they serve God, who named them to mark times and seasons (Genesis 1:14–19; Isaiah 40:26). The LORD your God has apportioned: Instead of worshiping these celestial bodies, God required the people of Israel to understand that God created them to serve humankind (Genesis 1:28).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 16-1916-19. Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image--The things are here specified of which God prohibited any image or representation to be made for the purposes of worship; and, from the variety of details entered into, an idea may be formed of the extensive prevalence of idolatry in that age. In whatever way idolatry originated, whether from an intention to worship the true God through those things which seemed to afford the strongest…Read the comment

Topics related to Deuteronomy 4:19

• Afflictions and Adversities
• Idolatry
• Moon
• Obedience
• Stars
• Sun

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Host of heaven
• Add
• Astrologer
• Consider
• Consuming
• Diminish
• Furnace
• Hearken

Commentaries on Deuteronomy 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings