IPhone 5 broke, can I buy a used iPhone 4 and activate it?

This may seem like a silly question, but I'm not that informed about cell phone plans really…

I've had a iPhone 5 for the past year and a half through Verizon. It broke today. Like full on broke nto covered by insurance…

I found a Verizon iPhone 4 for sale for like 70 bucks in great condition from someone on craigslist. If I buy that, can I go into Verizon with it and have them activate it for me and have it be my new phone?

Does this make sense?

Yeah it will work I but S4 older

You can never trust on secondhand phone…

Yes you can, but I personally wouldn't buy the iPhone 4. I have one and it is quite slow. If you don't mind it being slow, the go ahead and buy it.
Also, make sure that it isn't reported as stolen or lost or have iCloud lock.