Jeremiah 10:4

4 He made it fair with silver and gold; (and) with nails and hammers he joined it together, that it be not loosed [atwain].

Jeremiah 10:4 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 10:4

They deck it with silver and with gold
Cover it with plates of silver and gold, for the sake of ornament, that it may look grand, majestic, and venerable; and by this means draw the eye and attention, and so the devotion of people to it: they fasten it with nails and hammers, that it move not.
The sense is, either that the idol was fastened to some post or pillar, or in some certain place on a pedestal, that it might not fall, it not being able otherwise to support itself; or the plates of silver and gold, as Kimchi thinks, were fastened to the idol with nails and hammers, that so they might not be taken away from it; for, were it not for the nails, the god would not be able to keep his silver and golden deckings.

Jeremiah 10:4 In-Context

2 The Lord saith these things, Do not ye learn after the ways of heathen men, and do not ye dread of the signs of heaven, which signs heathen men dread. (The Lord saith these things, Do not ye learn after the ways of the heathen, and do not ye fear the signs of the heavens, which signs the heathen fear.)

3 For the laws of peoples be vain (For the religions, or the customs, of the peoples, or of the nations, be empty and futile), for why the work of [the] hands of a craftsman hath cut down with an ax a tree of the forest.

4 He made it fair with silver and gold; (and) with nails and hammers he joined it together, that it be not loosed [atwain].

5 Idols be made in the likeness of a palm tree, and shall not speak; those shall be taken and be borne (about), for those may not go; therefore do not ye dread those, for they may neither do evil, neither well. (These idols be made straight and tall like a palm tree, but they cannot speak; they must be picked up and carried about, for they cannot walk; and so do not ye fear them, for they can do neither good nor evil to you/for you.)

6 Lord, none is like thee (Lord, there is no one like thee); thou art great, and thy name is great in strength.