Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Deuteronomy 16:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Deuteronomy 16:21 forbids an Asherah or tree planted beside the LORD's altar.
No Asherah and no hated pillar beside the altar
This verse is one part of that explanation in Deuteronomy 16:21–17:1. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Deuteronomy 16:21–17:1
Read Deuteronomy 16:21 with 16:21–17:1. It forbids an Asherah or tree planted beside the LORD's altar. The complete unit establishes this contextual meaning: The law bars an Asherah beside the altar, a hated pillar, and a sacrificial animal with defect or evil condition.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Cult Symbols and Blemished Sacrifices Are Rejected advances Deuteronomy's movement from remembered wilderness failure through covenant instruction, land-facing law, public choice, leadership succession, witness song, blessing, and Moses' death. Its particular movement is this: The law bars an Asherah beside the altar, a hated pillar, and a sacrificial animal with defect or evil condition. At 16:21, the verse forbids an Asherah or tree planted beside the LORD's altar.
What Remains True
Because Deuteronomy 16:21 forbids an Asherah or tree planted beside the LORD's altar, its proportionate enduring truth is this: Worship must join exclusive devotion with truthful memory, shared joy, material care, and limits on profit and power. This unit also keeps the following boundary explicit: These bans do not authorize destroying living communities' art or judging disabled people by sacrificial-animal criteria.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Deuteronomy 16:21–17:1 — Cult Symbols and Blemished Sacrifices Are RejectedSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Deuteronomy 16:21–17:1, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech and legal clauses, poetic lines, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Deut.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 16:21–17:1
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Deuteronomy with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2026-08-12
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, legal, poetic, measure, name, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Deuteronomy PDF, complete PDF pp. 1–111, translation and translator notes attached to 16:21–17:1
Open source ↗