Deuteronomy 4:25

25 "When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, 1if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and 2by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger,

Deuteronomy 4:25 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:25

When thou shall beget children, and children's children
Children and grandchildren, and several ages and generations have passed:

and shalt have remained long in the land;
many years and even ages, or have grown old F8 in it: now they were in their infancy, and as such they were about to enter into it; during the times of the judges, they were in their childhood, or youth; in the times of David and Solomon, they were in their manhood; after that, in their decline; and in the times of Jeconiah and his brethren in their old age, when for their sins they were carried captive:

and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness
of anything; (See Gill on Deuteronomy 25:16).

and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke
him to anger;
that sin of idolatry, that God provoking sin, is chiefly intended.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 (Mtnvwn) "inveteraveritis", Montanus: "veteres facti fueritis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "senueritis", Vatablus.

Deuteronomy 4:25 In-Context

23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the LORD your God has forbidden you.
24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25 "When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger,
26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed.
27 And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.

Cross References 2

  • 1. ver. 16
  • 2. Deuteronomy 9:18; 2 Kings 17:17
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.