Deuteronomy 4:16

16 Make sure you don't commit a horrible sin. Don't make for yourselves a statue of a god. Don't make a god that looks like a man or woman or anything else.

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 At that time the LORD directed me to teach you his rules and laws. You must follow them in the land you are crossing the Jordan River to take as your own.

15 The LORD spoke to you at Mount Horeb out of the fire. But you didn't see any shape or form that day. So be very careful.

16 Make sure you don't commit a horrible sin. Don't make for yourselves a statue of a god. Don't make a god that looks like a man or woman or anything else.

17 Don't make one that looks like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the sky.

18 Don't make a statue that looks like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish that swims in the water.