lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,
Parallel translations
- WEB lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself an engraved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
- KJV Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
- BSB that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female,
- NASB so that you do not act corruptly and make a carved image for yourselves in the form of any figure, a representation of male or female,
- NLT So do not corrupt yourselves by making an idol in any form—whether of a man or a woman,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They must not make a carved image in any human form, male or female. It begins the list of forbidden idol forms.
Overview
Moses forbids fashioning images of God in the likeness of man or woman, a common temptation among the nations. To picture God in any created form distorts His glory and invites false worship. The prohibition upholds the second commandment and the proper reverence due to the Creator.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Acts 17:29Being 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.
- Exod 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:
- Rom 1:22–24Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
- Deut 5:8“You shall not make an engraved 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.
- Deut 4:23Be careful, lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves an engraved image in the form of anything which Yahweh your God has forbidden you.
- Exod 32:7Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!
- Acts 20:4–5These 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.
- Ps 106:19–20They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image.
- John 4:24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
- Deut 4:8–9What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you today?
- Deut 4:25When you shall father children, and children’s children, and you shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make an engraved image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in Yahweh your God’s sight, to provoke him to anger;
- Isa 40:18To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him?
- 1 Tim 1:17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 4:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.