Deuteronomy 4:23 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Deuteronomy 4:23
Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.
properly · verb, niphal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
forget
תִּשְׁכְּחוּ֙tish.ke.Chu
H7911
to mislay · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
covenant
בְּרִ֤יתbe.Rit
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · noun, common feminine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָה֙Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
God
אֱלֹ֣הֵיכֶ֔ם'e.Lo.hei.Khem
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
made
כָּרַ֖תka.Rat
H3772
to cut (off · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
make
וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֨םva.'a.si.Tem
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
image
פֶּ֙סֶל֙pe.sel
H6459
an idol · noun, common masculine singular absolute
likeness
תְּמ֣וּנַתte.Mu.nat
H8544
something portioned (i.e. fashioned) out · noun, common feminine singular construct
any
כֹּ֔לKol
H3605
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
LORD
יְהוָ֥הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
God
אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ'e.lo.Hei.kha
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
forbidden
צִוְּךָ֖tzi.ve.Kha
H6680
(intensively) to constitute · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 4:9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from t…
Deuteronomy 29:25 Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them f…
Deuteronomy 31:20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eat…
Joshua 23:16 When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselv…
1 Chronicles 16:15 Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations;
Isaiah 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlast…
Ezekiel 16:59 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 4:1-40
This most lively and excellent discourse is so entire, and the particulars of it are so often repeated, that we must take it altogether in the exposition of it, and endeavour to digest it into proper heads, for we cannot divide it into paragraphs.
I. In general, it is the use and application of the foregoing history; it comes in by way of inference from it: Now therefore harken, O Israel, Deu 4:1. This use we should make of the review of God's providences concerning us, we should by them be quickened and engaged to duty and obedience. The histories of the years of ancient times should in like manner be improved by us.
II. The scope and drift of his discourse is to persuade them to keep close…
But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace--that is, furnace for smelting iron. A furnace of this kind is round, sometimes thirty feet deep, and requiring the highest intensity of heat. Such is the tremendous image chosen to represent the bondage and affliction of the Israelites [ROSENMULLER].
to be unto him a people of inheritance--His peculiar possession from age to age; and therefore for you to abandon His worship for that of idols, especially the gross and debasing system of idolatry that prevails among the Egyptians, would be the greatest folly--the blackest ingratitude.
John Gill on Deuteronomy 4:23
Take heed unto yourselves,.... Since he should not be long with them, to advise, instruct, and caution them:
lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you; what that required of them, and what was promised unto them on the performance of it, and what they must expect should they break it, and particularly be so forgetful of it, and the first articles in it, as follows:
and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee; a graven image in the likeness of men or women, of any beast on the earth, or fowl in heaven, or fish in the sea.
John Calvin on Deuteronomy 4:21-24
The Church Fathers
Do not forget the covenant that the Lord your God has concluded with you, nor make any carved likeness of all the things that the Lord your God has forbidden you. Speaking here in a general way, the word similarity has been put on and has been omitted where there is an image, there is necessarily a similarity, although in image, because if no similarity is made, it is clear that no image is made, because where there is a similarity, that is not why there is necessarily an image there. 8 (Dt 4.32). The meaning of these words must be investigated: Ask the ancient times, which have preceded you, from the day when God created man on earth and from one end of heaven to the other; it is understood: ask. It seems that the entire orb of the earth is indicated here. But it is not easy to know why it is said: from one end of the sky to the other, and it is not said: "from one end of the earth to the other." A similar expression also appears in the Gospel, when the Lord says that the elect will be gathered from one end of the heavens to the other (Mt 24,31). Perhaps it is wanted to say here that neither the men nor the angels never heard say what God has done of singularísimo with this town. For the text goes on saying: If something as great as this has been done; if something similar has been heard. If any people have heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it and have survived (Dt 4,33). And if the thing is like that, that is, that God says that neither men nor angels have heard anything similar, what do those words of the Gospel mean: from one end of the heavens to the other, when the Lord says this when speaking of the last meeting of your chosen ones?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Bezer — Ore of gold or silver. (1.) A city of the Reubenites; one of the three cities of refuge on the east of Jordan (Deut. 4: 43; Josh. 20:8). It has been identified with the modern ruined village of…
Phylacteries — (Gr. phulakteria; i.e., “defences” or “protections”), called by modern Jews tephillin (i.e., “prayers”) are mentioned only in Matt. 23:5. They consisted of strips of parchment on which were inscribed…
Church Of Israel · In covenant with God — In covenant with God
Covenant, The · Caution against forgetting — Caution against forgetting
Forgetting God · Is forgetting his covenant — Is forgetting his covenant
Idol · Ma — Ma
Obedience · ENJOINED — ENJOINED
Watchfulness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Deuteronomy 4:21, 22
21. Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should go in unto that good land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance;
21. Jehova iratus fuit contra me propter verba vestra, juravitque quod non transirem Jordanem, neque ingrederer terram bonam, quam Jehova Deus tuus dat tibi in haereditatcm.
22. But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
22. Ego enim morior in hac terra, neque transeo Jordanem: vos antem transitis, ut possideatis terram istam bonam.
21. Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me. He again records that it ar…
The bringing of Israel out of Egypt reminds Moses of the end, viz., Canaan, and leads him to mention again how the Lord had refused him permission to enter into this good land; and to this he adds the renewed warning not to forget the covenant or make any image of God, since Jehovah, as a jealous God, would never tolerate this. The swearing attributed to God in Deu 4:21 is neither mentioned in Num 20 nor at the announcement of Moses' death in Num 27:12.; but it is not to be called in question on that account, as Knobel supposes. It is perfectly obvious from Deu 3:23. that all the details are not given in the historical account of the event referred to. כּל תּמוּנת פּסל, "image of a form of a…
An iron-smelting furnace was used to refine metal ores and separate the pure metal from the dross. Israel’s trials in Egypt made the Israelites more spiritually and morally pure. • special possession (literally people of inheritance): Israel itself was God’s inheritance. This concept is confirmed by the parallel phrase describing Israel as his very own people. As such, the Israelites were now fit to enter, conquer, and occupy the land (cp. 1 Pet 2:9-12).
Rashi on Deuteronomy 4:23
תמונת כל means, THE LIKENESS OF ANYTHING.
אשר צוך WHICH THE LORD [THY GOD] COMMANDED THEE — i.e. which He commanded you not to make.
