Deuteronomy 4:17

of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air,

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

ASV

the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in the heavens,

YLT

a form of any beast which is in the earth--a form of any winged bird which flieth in the heavens--

DBT

the pattern of any beast that is on the earth, the pattern of any winged fowl that flieth in the heaven,

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Commentary voices

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Voices4

On this verse

The likeness of any beast that is on the earth,.... As there are scarce any but the likeness of them has been made and worshipped, or the creatures themselves, as the ox by the Egyptians, the sheep by the Thebans, the goat by the Mendesians, and others by different people: the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air; as the hawk, and the bird called Ibis, and another by the name of Cneph by the Egyptians, and the eagle by others.

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

Related commentary

The likeness of any beast, etc. - Such as the Egyptian god Apis, who was worshipped under the form of a white bull; the ibis and hawk, among the fowls, had also Divine honors paid to them; serpents and the crocodile among reptiles; besides monkeys, dogs, cats, the scarabaeus, leeks, and onions! See this explained at large, Exo 20:4 (note).

Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832evangelical

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.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed

"Take heed lest you corrupt yourselves, " that is, "lest you debauch yourselves;" for those that think to make images of God form in their minds such notions of him as must needs be an inlet to all impieties; and it is intimated that it is a spiritual adultery.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

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Cross-references

3 linked verses

The verses this one reaches3

Romans 1:23
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Jeremiah 27:5
By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please.
Genesis 34:30
Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

Cross-references

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The quotation web

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Original language

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Around this verse

Word doors

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

About this book

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Deuteronomy — Moses' farewell sermons on the plains of Moab. The covenant renewed for the generation about to cross — with the Shema at its heart and Moses' song on its lips.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Moses — the sermons on the plains of Moab; ch. 34 (his death) traditionally attributed to Joshua
Date: The final weeks of Moses' life on the plains of Moab, c. 15th–13th century BC

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Romans 1:23
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
leads to
- Psalms 106:20
  They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.
- Jeremiah 2:11
  Has a nation ever changed its gods, though they are no gods at all? Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.
- Acts 17:29
  Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.
- 1 Peter 4:3
  For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.
- Romans 1:25
  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

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