Deuteronomy 17:3

3 that they go and serve alien gods, and worship them, the sun, and the moon, and all the knighthood of heaven, which things I commanded not; (and go and serve foreign, or other, gods, and worship them, or the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which things I would never command;)

Deuteronomy 17:3 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 17:3

And hath gone
The Targum of Jonathan adds, after the evil imagination or concupiscence, lusting after other lovers, and forsaking the true God, and departing from his worship:

and served other gods;
strange gods, the idols of the people, other gods besides the true God; the creature besides the Creator:

and worshipped them;
by bowing down before them, praying to them, or ascribing their mercies and blessings to them, and giving them the glory of them:

either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven:
the two great luminaries, and the planets, constellations, and stars, any of them; which kind of idolatry very early obtained, and was in use at this time among the Heathens, and was an iniquity to be punished by the judge, ( Job 31:26-28 ) , which sin, though so strictly forbidden, the people of Israel sometimes fell into, ( 2 Kings 21:3 ) ( 23:4 )

which I have not commanded:
and which is a sufficient reason, in matters of worship, to avoid and abstain from anything, that God has not commanded it; for in things of that nature nothing should be done but what he has ordered, who is a jealous God, and will not suffer any to take upon them to direct what should be done as a religious service and duty; and if any are so presumptuous, they must expect it will be resented; see ( Isaiah 1:12 ) and especially with respect to the object of worship, as here, and which relate to things if not forbid expressly, yet tacitly, to do which was an abomination to the Lord.

Deuteronomy 17:3 In-Context

1 Thou shalt not offer to thy Lord God an ox and a sheep in which is a wem, either anything of vice/either anything of reproof, for it is abomination to thy Lord God. (Thou shalt not offer to the Lord thy God an ox or a sheep which hath a blemish, or a fault, for that is an abomination to the Lord thy God.)

2 And when a man either a woman, that do evil in the sight of thy Lord God, be found with thee, within one of thy gates which thy Lord God shall give to thee, and they break the covenant of God,

3 that they go and serve alien gods, and worship them, the sun, and the moon, and all the knighthood of heaven, which things I commanded not; (and go and serve foreign, or other, gods, and worship them, or the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which things I would never command;)

4 and this is told to thee, and thou hearest (of) it, and inquirest diligently, and thou findest that it is sooth, and that (such an) abomination is done in Israel;

5 thou shalt lead out the man and the woman, that did that most cursed thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be oppressed with stones (until they die). (thou shalt lead out the man, or the woman, who did this most cursed thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be killed with stones.)