Deuteronomy 17:3

3 ut vadant et serviant diis alienis et adorent eos solem et lunam et omnem militiam caeli quae non praecepi

Deuteronomy 17:3 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 17:3

And hath gone
The Targum of Jonathan adds, after the evil imagination or concupiscence, lusting after other lovers, and forsaking the true God, and departing from his worship:

and served other gods;
strange gods, the idols of the people, other gods besides the true God; the creature besides the Creator:

and worshipped them;
by bowing down before them, praying to them, or ascribing their mercies and blessings to them, and giving them the glory of them:

either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven:
the two great luminaries, and the planets, constellations, and stars, any of them; which kind of idolatry very early obtained, and was in use at this time among the Heathens, and was an iniquity to be punished by the judge, ( Job 31:26-28 ) , which sin, though so strictly forbidden, the people of Israel sometimes fell into, ( 2 Kings 21:3 ) ( 23:4 )

which I have not commanded:
and which is a sufficient reason, in matters of worship, to avoid and abstain from anything, that God has not commanded it; for in things of that nature nothing should be done but what he has ordered, who is a jealous God, and will not suffer any to take upon them to direct what should be done as a religious service and duty; and if any are so presumptuous, they must expect it will be resented; see ( Isaiah 1:12 ) and especially with respect to the object of worship, as here, and which relate to things if not forbid expressly, yet tacitly, to do which was an abomination to the Lord.

Deuteronomy 17:3 In-Context

1 non immolabis Domino Deo tuo bovem et ovem in quo est macula aut quippiam vitii quia abominatio est Domini Dei tui
2 cum repperti fuerint apud te intra unam portarum tuarum quas Dominus Deus tuus dabit tibi vir aut mulier qui faciant malum in conspectu Domini Dei tui et transgrediantur pactum illius
3 ut vadant et serviant diis alienis et adorent eos solem et lunam et omnem militiam caeli quae non praecepi
4 et hoc tibi fuerit nuntiatum audiensque inquisieris diligenter et verum esse reppereris et abominatio facta est in Israhel
5 educes virum ac mulierem qui rem sceleratissimam perpetrarunt ad portas civitatis tuae et lapidibus obruentur
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.