Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 4:25
After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger—
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, delivering a conditional warning before they cross the Jordan. He frames the scenario for a future generation that has lived in the land long enough to produce multiple generations.
The words — הִשְׁחִת (hish.cha.Tem) translates literally as "you will act corruptly" or "you will destroy yourselves," while תּוֹלִיד (to.Lid) means "you will father" or "produce." These verbs establish the timeline of prolonged settlement preceding spiritual decline.
The thread — The prohibition against corrupt idolatry directly recalls Deuteronomy 4:16, while the consequence of perishing from the land expands Deuteronomy 4:26. The pattern of provoking divine jealousy through covenant corruption reappears in Hosea 9:9 and is applied to spiritual rebellion in 1 Corinthians 10:22.
Why it lands — The text states that extended prosperity does not prevent covenant violation, but rather creates the conditions for it. It requires the reader to treat spiritual vigilance as a continuous obligation rather than a temporary phase.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger:
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 4:16 that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female,
- Hosea 9:9 They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their guilt; He will punish their sins.
- 1 Corinthians 10:22 Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
- Exodus 32:7 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
- Deuteronomy 31:16 And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.
- Deuteronomy 31:29 For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger by the work of your hands.”
- Judges 2:8 And Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110.
- 2 Kings 17:17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- 2 Kings 21:2 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
- 2 Kings 21:14 So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hands of their enemies. And they will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies,