Deuteronomy 4:16

16 lest ye corrupt yourselves and make yourselves a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

Deuteronomy 4:16 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:16

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 and others in the likeness of women, as Juno, Diana, Venus 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.

Deuteronomy 4:16 In-Context

14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you the statutes and rights that ye might do them in the land which ye are about to enter to possess.
15 Diligently guard, therefore, your souls, for ye saw no manner of likeness on the day that the LORD spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,
16 lest ye corrupt yourselves and make yourselves a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the air,
18 the likeness of any animal that moves on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth,
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010