Deuteronomy 4:16-19
16I say this ▼ so you will not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the form of any kind of figure. This includes the likeness of a human male or female, 17any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky, 18anything that crawls ▼▼tn Heb “creeping thing.”
on the ground, or any fish in the deep waters under the earth. ▼▼tn Heb “under the earth.”
19When you look up ▼ to the sky ▼▼tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
and see the sun, moon, and stars—the whole heavenly creation ▼▼tn Heb “all the host of heaven.”
—you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, ▼▼tn In the Hebrew text the verbal sequence in v. 19 is “lest you look up…and see…and be seduced…and worship them…and serve them.” However, the first two actions are not prohibited in and of themselves. The prohibition pertains to the final three actions. The first two verbs describe actions that are logically subordinate to the following actions and can be treated as temporal or circumstantial: “lest, looking up…and seeing…, you are seduced.” See Joüon 2:635 §168.h.
for the Lord your God has assigned ▼▼tn Or “allotted.”
them to all the people ▼▼tn Or “nations.”
of the world. ▼▼tn Heb “under all the heaven.”
▼▼sn The OT views the heavenly host as God’s council, which surrounds his royal throne ready to do his bidding (see 1 Kgs 22:19). God has given this group, sometimes called the “sons of God” (cf. Job 1:6; 38:7; Ps 89:6), jurisdiction over the nations. See Deut 32:8 (LXX). Some also see this assembly as the addressee in Ps 82. While God delegated his council to rule over the nations, he established a theocratic government over Israel and ruled directly over his chosen people via the Mosaic covenant. See v. 20, as well as Deut 32:9.
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