Deuteronomy 4:18

18 an insect that crawls on the earth, or a fish that lives in the sea.

Deuteronomy 4:18 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:18

The likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground
As serpents by many; and indeed that creature is introduced into almost all the idolatries of the Heathens, which seems to take its rise from the serpent Satan made use of to deceive our first parents:

the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth;
as the crocodile and hippopotamus, or river horse, by the Egyptians; and Dagon and Derceto, supposed to be figures in the form of a fish, among the Phoenicians.

Deuteronomy 4:18 In-Context

16 Don't ruin everything and make an idol for yourself: a form of any image, any likeness—male or female—

17 or any likeness whatsoever, whether of a land animal, a bird that flies in the sky,

18 an insect that crawls on the earth, or a fish that lives in the sea.

19 Don't look to the skies, to the sun or the moon or the stars, all the heavenly bodies, and be led astray, worshipping and serving them. The LORD your God has granted these things to all the nations who live under heaven.

20 But the LORD took you and brought you out of that iron furnace, out of Egypt, so that you might be his own treasured people, which is what you are right now.