Deuteronomy 4:28

28 There you will worship other gods, made of wood and stone by human hands—gods that cannot see, listen, eat, or smell.

Deuteronomy 4:28 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:28

And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood
and stone
Idols made by men, cut out of wood and stone; these they should be enticed into the service of, or compelled to serve; which was still more brutish and stupid than to worship the sun, moon, and stars, which were not the works of men's hand, but the glorious works of the eternal God. But since in their captivities they were not subject to idolatry, but were cured of it thereby, another sense of the words is given by some, as by Onkelos and Jonathan, who paraphrase the words of serving the people, that serve idols; but what follows confirms the first sense:

which neither see, nor hear, nor taste, nor smell;
senseless things, which have none of the senses of seeing, hearing, and smelling, nor the faculty of eating, which they need not to support life, of which they are destitute; and therefore it must be monstrous stupidity to worship such lifeless, senseless, objects; see ( Psalms 115:4-7 ) .

Deuteronomy 4:28 In-Context

26 I call heaven and earth as my witnesses against you today: You will definitely disappear—and quickly—from the land that you are crossing over the Jordan River to possess. You won't extend your time there but will instead be totally destroyed.
27 The LORD will scatter you among the nations. Only a very few of you will survive in the countries where the LORD will drag you.
28 There you will worship other gods, made of wood and stone by human hands—gods that cannot see, listen, eat, or smell.
29 You will seek the LORD your God from there, and you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your being.
30 In your distress, when all these things happen to you in the future, you will return to the LORD your God and you will obey his voice,

Footnotes 1

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