lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself a carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Parallel Translations
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lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself a carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
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Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
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lest ye deal corruptly, and make you a graven image, even the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 4:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 17:29 Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.
- Exodus 20:4-5 “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
- Deuteronomy 4:23 Be careful, lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which Yahweh your God has forbidden you.
- Deuteronomy 5:8 “You shall not make a carved image for yourself—any likeness of what is in heaven above, or what is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
- Romans 1:22-24 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves;
- Exodus 32:7 Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!
- Deuteronomy 4:8-9 What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you today? Only be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children’s children—
- Deuteronomy 4:25 When you shall father children and children’s children, and you shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a carved image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in Yahweh your God’s sight to provoke him to anger,
- Psalms 106:19-20 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image. Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass.
- Isaiah 40:18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
- John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
- Acts 20:4-5 These accompanied him as far as Asia: Sopater of Beroea; Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians; Gaius of Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. But these had gone ahead, and were waiting for us at Troas.
- 1 Timothy 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Deu 4:16 Lest ye corrupt [yourselves], and make you…
Deu 4:16 Lest ye corrupt [yourselves], and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Ver. 16. The likeness of male or female.] As the blind Ethnics did, concluding their petitions with that general, Dii, Deaeque omnes. {a}
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{a} Servius.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain i.e. Lest ye corrupt your minds with mean and…
i.e. Lest ye corrupt your minds with mean and carnal thoughts of God. Or, corrupt your ways or courses, by worshipping God in a corrupt manner, or by falling into idolatry.
A graven image, to wit, for worship, or for the representation of God, as it is explained Deu 4:19, for otherwise it was not simply unlawful to draw the picture or make a figure of a man or a beast.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Lest ye corrupt yourselves,.... And not themselves only, but…
Lest ye corrupt yourselves,.... And not themselves only, but the word and worship of God, by idolatry, than which nothing is more corrupting and defiling, nor more abominable to God:
and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure; a graven image, in the likeness of any figure, an idea of which they had formed in their minds:
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the likeness of male or female; of a man or a woman; so some of the Heathen deities were in the likeness of men, as Jupiter, Mars, Hercules, Apollo, &c. and others in the likeness of women, as Juno, Diana, Venus, &c. Some think Osiris and Isis, Egyptian deities, the one male, the other female, are respected; but it is not certain that these were worshipped by them so early.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Lest ye corrupt yourselves - Your ways, by worshipping…
Lest ye corrupt yourselves - Your ways, by worshipping God in a corrupt manner.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 16. The likeness of male or female] Such…
Verse 16. The 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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Deu 4:16-17. Lest ye corrupt yourselves — Corrupt your…
Deu 4:16-17. Lest ye corrupt yourselves — Corrupt your minds with mean thoughts of God, your hearts by suffering any creature to alienate your affections from him, or your ways by worshipping him in a corrupt manner, or by falling into idolatry. And make you a graven image — For worship, or for the representation of God; which he forbids under the penalty of his displeasure. The likeness of any beast, &c. — Dr. Chandler observes, that “this is the very picture of Egypt, which had gods of all sorts; dead persons deified, male and female, and numerous images of them; who worshipped as deities bulls, cows, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, birds, the ibis and hawk, serpents, crocodiles, river-horses, together with the sun, moon, and stars of heaven.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven…
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 evidences of His power, or whether a divine principle was supposed to reside in the things themselves, there was scarcely an element or object of nature but was deified. This was particularly the case with the Canaanites and Egyptians, against whose superstitious practices the caution, no doubt, was chiefly directed. The former worshipped Baal and Astarte, the latter Osiris and Isis, under the figure of a male and a female. It was in Egypt that animal-worship most prevailed, for the natives of that country deified among beasts the ox, the heifer, the sheep, and the goat, the dog, the cat, and the ape; among birds, the ibis, the hawk, and the crane; among reptiles, the crocodile, the frog, and the beetle; among fishes, all the fish of the Nile; some of these, as Osiris and Isis, were worshipped over all Egypt, the others only in particular provinces. In addition they embraced the Zabian superstition, the adoration of the Egyptians, in common with that of many other people, extending to the whole starry host. The very circumstantial details here given of the Canaanitish and Egyptian idolatry were owing to the past and prospective familiarity of the Israelites with it in all these forms.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 16. lest ye corrupt yourselves] Act perniciously.
16. lest ye corrupt yourselves] Act perniciously.
a graven image] Heb. pesel: any idol carved in stone or wood.
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figure] Heb. semel, only here; Eze_8:3; Eze_8:5; 2Ch_33:7; 2Ch_33:15, the Phoen. apparently for a statue, ἀνδριάς (CIS i. i. 41, line i.; 88, lines 2, 5; 91, 1). So here of the human figure as the following words show.
the likeness, etc.] Rather, the build or mould, Heb. tabnîth, of male or female.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (16) Lest ye corrupt . . . and make.—The…
(16) Lest ye corrupt . . . and make.—The connection between idolatry and corruption is twofold. First, it changes “the glory of the incorruptible God” into an image of His corruptible creatures. Secondly, it always ends in corrupting the idolater. Man was made to have dominion over the works of God’s hands. He cannot worship anything in creation, which he was not intended to rule. He can only fulfil his destiny when he strives after the Divine likeness, rising to that which is above him, instead of stooping to that which is below.
(17,18) Likeness of any beast . . . fowl . . .—There may be an allusion to the animal idolatry of Egypt here.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Graven image (lsp), carved work or sculpture, whether of…
Graven image (lsp), carved work or sculpture, whether of wood, or metal, or stonethe similitude of any figure the form of any idol (lms, form, statue, idol)the likeness figure (tynibt, a building, a model, a form, or figure)of male or female in apposition to graven image, and illustrative of it.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:16 idol: Idolatry inherently confined the Lord to the…
4:16 idol: Idolatry inherently confined the Lord to the artist’s imagination. Israel was not to make idols in the form of any of his creatures (4:17-18). Idols and images could lead to worship of the creature rather than the Creator (5:8-9; Rom 1:23-25).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.