Deuteronomy 4:16

16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form 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 statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land which you are going over to possess.

15 "Therefore take good heed to yourselves. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,

16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form 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 bird that flies in the air,

18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.