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Deuteronomy 4:17

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Deuteronomy 4:17 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in the heavens,” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in the heavens,
Deuteronomy 4:17 — American Standard Version

Context — Deuteronomy 4

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
14And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
15Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of form on the day that Jehovah spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.
16Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flieth in the heavens,
18the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;
19and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven.
20But Jehovah hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as at this day.
← Deuteronomy 4:16Deuteronomy 4:18 →
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, etc.] 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.”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“In these verses there is an evident allusion to the idolatrous worship in Egypt. Among the Egyptians, almost everything in nature was the object of their idolatry; among beasts were oxen, heifers, sheep, goats, lions, dogs, monkeys, and cats; among birds, the ibis, crane, and hawk; among reptiles, the crocodile, serpents, frogs, flies, and beetles; all the fish of the Nile, and the Nile itself; besides the sun, moon, planets, stars, fire, light, air, darkness, and night. These are all included in the very circumstantial prohibition in the text, and very forcibly in the general terms of Exo 20:4, the reason of which prohibition becomes self-evident, when the various objects of Egyptian…”
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Keil & Delitzsch
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch · Commentary on the Old Testament · 19th-century historical commentary
“They were also not to make an image of any kind of beast; a caution against imitating the animal worship of Egypt. Deuteronomy 4:19”
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Related study paths

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Sources and verification