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Bible in Basic English

Deuteronomy 4:16

So that you may not be turned to evil ways and make for yourselves an image in the form of any living thing, male or female,

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Idolatry;   Obedience;   The Topic Concordance - Alertness;   Idolatry;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Heedfulness;   Idolatry;   Reptiles;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Idol, Idolatry;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - God;   Idol, idolatry;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Idol, Idolatry;   Israel;   Jesus Christ, Name and Titles of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Polytheism;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Idol;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Baptism of Fire;   Deuteronomy, the Book of;   Likeness;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Deuteronomy;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Quotations;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Similitude;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Figure;   Form;   Similitude;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ethics;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself an engraved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
King James Version
Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Lexham English Bible
so that you do not ruin yourselves and make for yourselves a divine image in a form of any image, a replica of male or female,
English Standard Version
beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
New Century Version
Don't sin by making idols of any kind, and don't make statues—of men or women,
New English Translation
I say this so you will not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the form of any kind of figure. This includes the likeness of a human male or female,
Amplified Bible
so that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved or sculpted image [to worship] in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
New American Standard Bible
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,
Geneva Bible (1587)
That ye corrupt not your selues, and make you a grauen image or representation of any figure: whither it be the likenes of male or female,
Legacy Standard Bible
lest you act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Contemporary English Version
not to commit the sin of worshiping idols. Don't make idols to be worshiped, whether they are shaped like men, women,
Complete Jewish Bible
do not become corrupt and make yourselves a carved image having the shape of any figure — not a representation of a human being, male or female,
Darby Translation
lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the form of any figure, the pattern of male or female,
Easy-to-Read Version
So be careful! Don't sin and destroy yourselves by making false gods or statues in the shape of any living thing. Don't make an idol that looks like a man or a woman,
George Lamsa Translation
Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make for yourselves images and the forms of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Good News Translation
that you do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all—whether man or woman,
Christian Standard Bible®
so you don’t act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form,
Literal Translation
that you not deal corruptly, and make for yourselves a graven image, a likeness of any figure, the form of a male or female,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and make you eny ymage, that is like a man, or woman,
American Standard Version
lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Lest ye marre your selues, & make you a grauen image, & picture of any maner of figure, whether it be the likenesse of man or woman.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
lest ye deal corruptly, and make you a graven image, even the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
King James Version (1611)
Lest yee corrupt your selues, and make you a grauen image, the similitude of any figure, the likenes of male, or female,
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
lest ye transgress, and make to yourselves a carved image, any kind of figure, the likeness of male or female,
English Revised Version
lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Berean Standard Bible
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,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
lest perauenture ye be disseyued and make to you a grauun licnesse, ether an ymage of male, ether of female;
Young's Literal Translation
lest ye do corruptly, and have made to you a graven image, a similitude of any figure, a form of male or female --
Update Bible Version
Or else you will corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Webster's Bible Translation
Lest ye corrupt [yourselves], and make to you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
World English Bible
Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself an engraved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
New King James Version
lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,
New Living Translation
So do not corrupt yourselves by making an idol in any form—whether of a man or a woman,
New Life Bible
Do not become sinful and make a false god for yourselves that looks like a body or object, like a male or female,
New Revised Standard
so that you do not act corruptly by making an idol for yourselves, in the form of any figure—the likeness of male or female,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
lest ye should break faith, and make you an image, a form of any likeness, - a model of male or female;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Lest perhaps being deceived you might make you a graven similitude, or image of male or female,
Revised Standard Version
beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

Contextual Overview

1 And now give ear, O Israel, to the laws and the decisions which I am teaching you, and do them; so that life may be yours, and you may go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 Make no addition to the orders which I give you, and take nothing from them, but keep the orders of the Lord your God which I give you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for destruction came from the Lord on all those among you who went after Baal-peor. 4 But you who kept faith with the Lord are living, every one of you, today. 5 I have been teaching you laws and decisions, as I was ordered to do by the Lord my God, so that you might keep them in the land to which you are going to take it for your heritage. 6 So keep these laws and do them; for so will your wisdom and good sense be clear in the eyes of the peoples, who hearing all these laws will say, Truly, this great nation is a wise and far-seeing people. 7 For what great nation has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is, whenever we are turned to him in prayer? 8 And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today? 9 Only take care, and keep watch on your soul, for fear that the things which your eyes have seen go from your memory and from your heart all the days of your life; but let the knowledge of them be given to your children and to your children's children; 10 That day when you were waiting before the Lord your God in Horeb, and the Lord said to me, Make all the people come together, so that hearing my words they may go in fear of me all the days of their life on earth and give this teaching to their children.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

corrupt: Deuteronomy 4:8, Deuteronomy 4:9, Exodus 20:4, Exodus 20:5, Exodus 32:7, Psalms 106:19, Psalms 106:20, Romans 1:22-24

the likeness: Such as Baal-peor, the Roman Priapus; Ashtaroth or Astarte, the Greek and Roman Venus, and many others. Deuteronomy 4:23, Isaiah 40:18, John 4:24, Acts 17:29, Acts 20:4, Acts 20:5, 1 Timothy 1:17

Reciprocal: Leviticus 26:1 - Ye shall Deuteronomy 4:25 - corrupt Deuteronomy 9:12 - corrupted Deuteronomy 27:15 - maketh Deuteronomy 32:5 - They have corrupted themselves Psalms 78:58 - with Isaiah 44:13 - he marketh Zephaniah 3:7 - corrupted Acts 7:43 - figures

Cross-References

Genesis 3:8
And there came to them the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening wind: and the man and his wife went to a secret place among the trees of the garden, away from the eyes of the Lord God.
Genesis 4:14
You have sent me out this day from the face of the earth and from before your face; I will be a wanderer in flight over the earth, and whoever sees me will put me to death.
Exodus 20:18
And all the people were watching the thunderings and the flames and the sound of the horn and the mountain smoking; and when they saw it, they kept far off, shaking with fear.
2 Kings 13:23
But the Lord was kind to them and had pity on them, caring for them, because of his agreement with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he would not put them to destruction or send them away from before his face till now.
2 Kings 24:20
And because of the wrath of the Lord, this came about in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had sent them all away from before him: and Zedekiah took up arms against the king of Babylon.
Job 1:12
And the Lord said to the Satan, See, I give all he has into your hands, only do not put a finger on the man himself. And the Satan went out from before the Lord.
Job 2:7
And the Satan went out from before the Lord, and sent on Job an evil disease covering his skin from his feet to the top of his head.
Job 20:17
Let him not see the rivers of oil, the streams of honey and milk.
Psalms 5:11
But let all those who put their faith in you be glad with cries of joy at all times, and let all the lovers of your name be glad in you.
Psalms 68:2
Let them be like smoke before the driving wind; as wax turning soft before the fire, so let them come to an end before the power of God.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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;

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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 4:16. 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.


 
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