Deuteronomy 4:16

Deuteronomy 4:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
• New International Version (NIV)so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman,
• English Standard Version (ESV)beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
• New King James Version (NKJV)lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,

Context of Deuteronomy 4:16

14At that time, the Lord commanded me to teach you his rules and his laws. You must obey them in the land that you will now go in to live there. 15Remember when the Lord spoke to you at Mount Horeb from the middle of the fire. You did not see him in any shape. So be very careful about everything that you do. Do not make any image to be your god. That would be a sin. Do not make an image in any shape as your idol. Do not copy the shape of a man or a woman, 17or the shape of any animal or bird. 18Do not copy the shape of anything that moves along the ground, or any fish that swims in the deep water.

Deuteronomy 4:16 word by word

פֶּ֨ן־תַּשְׁחִת֔וּן וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֥ם לָכֶ֛ם פֶּ֖סֶל תְּמוּנַ֣ת כָּל־סָ֑מֶל תַּבְנִ֥ית זָכָ֖ר א֥וֹ נְקֵבָֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Lest ye corruptשָׁחַתshâchath · to ruinH7843
• and makeעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to makeH6213
• you a graven imageפֶּ֫סֶלpesel · idolH6459
• the similitudeתְּמוּנָהtemûnâh temûnâh · likenessH8544
• of any figureסֶ֫מֶלsemel sêmel · idolH5566
• the likenessתַּבְנִיתtabnîyth · patternH8403
• of maleזָכָרzâkâr · maleH2145
• or femaleנְקֵבָהneqêbâh · femaleH5347

Cross-references for Deuteronomy 4:16

• Deuteronomy 4:8And no other great nation has rules and laws that are as fair as ours. That is God's Law that I am giving to you today.
• Exodus 20:4You must not make any idol for yourself. Do not make a false god in the shape of anything that is in the sky above. Do not make one in the shape of anything on the earth or in the sea.
• Exodus 32:7The Lord said to Moses, ‘Hurry back down the mountain! The people that you brought out of Egypt have done a wicked thing.
• Psalms 106:19At Horeb, the Israelites used gold to make a cow, and they worshipped it.
• Romans 1:22They said that they were wise, but really they became fools.
• Deuteronomy 4:23Be careful! Do not forget the covenant that the Lord your God has made with you. Do not make for yourselves any kind of image as your idol. That is the command that he has given to you.
• Isaiah 40:18You cannot find anyone else who is like God. There is no image that you can make to be like him.
• John 4:24God is spirit. People who worship him must worship from their spirits in a true way.’
• Acts 17:29So, because we are God's children, we should not think that he is a thing like an idol. Clever people use gold or silver or stone to make images of gods. But God is not like these things that people choose to make for themselves.
• Acts 20:4These are the men who went with Paul: Sopater, the son of Pyrrhus, from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe; Timothy; Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia region.
• 1 Timothy 1:17Praise God, the King who rules for ever! He can never die. He lives where we cannot see him. He is the only God. So praise him and say how great he is! That is true always and for ever! Amen! This is true.

Commentaries on Deuteronomy 4:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16The likeness of male or female - Such as Baal-peor and the Roman Priapus, Ashtaroth or Astarte, and the Greek and Roman Venus; after whom most nations of the world literally went a whoring.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16idol: Idolatry limited the Lord to what a human artist could imagine and make. But the Lord is greater than anything a person can create. Israel was not to make idols shaped like any of God’s creatures (4:17–18). This command protected the people from false worship. Idols and images could lead people to worship created things instead of the Creator (5:8–9; Romans 1:23–25). Instead of honoring the God who made everything, they might honor something he made.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 4:16

• Afflictions and Adversities
• Idolatry
• Obedience

In the dictionaries

• Graven image
• Add
• Consider
• Consuming
• Diminish
• Furnace
• Hearken
• Idol
• Deuteronomy
• Figure

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