Deuteronomy 29:17

17 You got an eyeful of their obscenities, their wood and stone, silver and gold junk-gods.

Deuteronomy 29:17 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 29:17

And ye have seen their abominations and their idols
Or, "their abominations, even their idols"; for the same are meant by both: it is common in Scripture to call the idols of the Gentiles abominations, without any other explanation of them; see ( 1 Kings 11:5 1 Kings 11:7 ) ; because they are abominable to God, and ought to be so to men: the word for idols has the signification of dung, and may be rendered dunghill gods, either referring to such that were bred and lived in dung, as the beetle, worshipped by the Egyptians, as Bishop Patrick observes; or which were as much to be loathed and abhorred as the dung of any creature:

wood and stone, silver and gold;
these are the materials of which the idols they had seen in the several countries they had been in, or passed through, were made of; some of wood, others of stone cut out of these, and carved; others more rich and costly were made of massive gold and silver, and were molten ones; or the images of wood were glided with gold and silver;

which [were] among them;
now these being seen by them in as they passed along, they might run in their minds, or be called to remembrance by them, and so they be in danger of being drawn aside to make the like, and worship them.

Deuteronomy 29:17 In-Context

15 I am making it with you who are standing here today in the Presence of God, our God, yes, but also with those who are not here today.
16 You know the conditions in which we lived in Egypt and how we crisscrossed through nations in our travels.
17 You got an eyeful of their obscenities, their wood and stone, silver and gold junk-gods.
18 Don't let down your guard lest even now, today, someone - man or woman, clan or tribe - gets sidetracked from God, our God, and gets involved with the no-gods of the nations; lest some poisonous weed sprout and spread among you,
19 a person who hears the words of the Covenant-oath but exempts himself, thinking, "I'll live just the way I please, thank you," and ends up ruining life for everybody.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.