Deuteronomy 16:21

21 You shall not plant for yourselves {an Asherah pole} beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you make for yourselves.

Deuteronomy 16:21 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 16:21

Thou shall not plant thee a grove of any trees
Of any sort of trees, as oaks or any other; not but that it was lawful to plant trees and groves of them, but not for a religious or idolatrous use: particularly

near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee;
as the Heathens did near their altars, lest it should be thought to be done for a like superstitious and idolatrous use; which evil the Jews sometimes fell into in the times of wicked reigns, and which their good and pious kings removed and destroyed; see ( 2 Kings 18:4 ) ( 21:3 ) ( 2 Kings 23:4 2 Kings 23:7 2 Kings 23:14 2 Kings 23:15 ) and Hecataeus ^F2, an Heathen historian, relates of the city of Jerusalem, that there were there no image, nor plantation, nor grove, nor any such thing.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 4. p. 408.

Deuteronomy 16:21 In-Context

19 You shall not subvert justice; you shall not {show partiality}; and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe makes blind [the] eyes of [the] wise and misrepresents [the] words of [the] righteous.

20 {Justice, only justice} you shall pursue, so that you may live, and you shall take possession of the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you.

21 You shall not plant for yourselves {an Asherah pole} beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you make for yourselves.

22 And you shall not set up for yourselves a stone pillar, [a thing] that Yahweh your God hates.

Footnotes

• [a] Hebrew "for/to you" but with collective meaning
• [b] Literally "an Asherah of any wood/tree"
• [c] Hebrew "for/to you" but with collective meaning