And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
Parallel translations
- WEB There you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
- KJV And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
- BSB And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
- NASB There you will serve gods, the work of human hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear, nor eat nor smell anything.
- NLT There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
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
In exile they will serve lifeless idols of wood and stone. It depicts the bitter irony of idolatry's outcome.
Overview
Moses warns that scattered Israel will find themselves among gods of wood and stone that cannot see, hear, eat, or smell. Those who forsake the living God are handed over to the very idols they craved, which can do nothing for them. The contrast magnifies the LORD as the one true and living God, setting up the call to repentance and return in the verses that follow.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Deut 28:64Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. There you will serve other gods, which you have not known, you nor your fathers, even wood and stone.
- Jer 16:13Therefore will I cast you out of this land into the land that you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night; for I will show you no favor.’
- Isa 46:7They bear it on their shoulder. They carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands there. It cannot move from its place. Yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer. It cannot save him out of his trouble.
- Deut 28:36Yahweh will bring you, and your king whom you will set over yourselves, to a nation that you have not known, you nor your fathers. There you will serve other gods of wood and stone.
- Ezek 20:39“‘As for you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Go, everyone serve his idols, and hereafter also, if you will not listen to me; but you shall no more profane my holy name with your gifts, and with your idols.
- Isa 44:9Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.
- Ps 135:15–18The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Isa 45:20“Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can’t save.
- 1 Sam 26:19Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is so that Yahweh has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, they are cursed before Yahweh; for they have driven me out today that I shouldn’t cling to Yahweh’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods!’
- Ps 115:4–8Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
- Jer 10:9There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; Blue and purple are their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men.
- Acts 7:42But God turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
- Jer 10:3For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.
- Ezek 20:32“‘“That which comes into your mind shall not be at all, in that you say, ‘We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 4:28 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.