Deuteronomy 4:28

28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

PREVIOUS Deuteronomy 4:27 NEXT Deuteronomy 4:29

Deuteronomy 4:28 in Other Translations

KJV

28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

ESV

28 And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

NLT

28 There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.

MSG

28 There you can worship your homemade gods to your hearts' content, your wonderful gods of wood and stone that can't see or hear or eat or smell.

CSB

28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, 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 ) .

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Deuteronomy 4:28 In-Context

26 I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed.

27 The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.

28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.

Cross References 3

1. Deuteronomy 13:2; Deuteronomy 28:36,64; 1 Samuel 26:19; Jeremiah 5:19; Jeremiah 16:13; Acts 19:26
2. Deuteronomy 29:17
3. Psalms 115:4-8; Psalms 135:15-18; Isaiah 8:19; Isaiah 26:14; Isaiah 44:17-20; Revelation 9:20