Deuteronomy 4:28

28 And you will there serve gods {made by human hands}, [of] wood and stone, [gods] that cannot see and cannot hear and cannot eat and cannot 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 to witness against you today the heaven and the earth, that you will perish soon and completely from the land that you [are] crossing the Jordan into it to take possession of it; {you will not live long on it}, but you will be completely destroyed.
27 And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left {few in number} among the nations {to where Yahweh will lead you}.
28 And you will there serve gods {made by human hands}, [of] wood and stone, [gods] that cannot see and cannot hear and cannot eat and cannot smell.
29 But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God and will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
30 {In your distress} when all these things have found you in the {latter days}, then you will return to Yahweh your God, and you will listen to his voice.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "the work of the hands of human"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.