Passage
You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
Deuteronomy 7:25 (WEB)
Nearby Context
Deuteronomy 7:23 But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed.
Deuteronomy 7:24 He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under the sky. No one will be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them.
Deuteronomy 7:25 You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
Deuteronomy 7:26 You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "shall", "burn", "engraved", "images", "gods", "fire", and "covet". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "burn", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 24's "He will deliver their kings into your..." into verse 26's "You shall not bring an abomination into...", so "shall" and "burn" belong inside that flow. In Deuteronomy context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shall" and "burn" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.