Jeremiah 10:4

4 It's overlaid with silver and gold, and fastened securely with hammer and nails so it won't fall over.

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 proclaims: Don't follow the ways of the nations or be troubled by signs in the sky, even though the nations are troubled by them.

3 The rituals of the nations are hollow: a tree from the forest is chopped down and shaped by the craftsman's tools.

4 It's overlaid with silver and gold, and fastened securely with hammer and nails so it won't fall over.

5 They are no different than a scarecrow in a cucumber patch: they can't speak; they must be carried because they can't walk. Don't be afraid of them, because they can't do harm or good.

6 LORD, no one is like you! You are great, and great is your mighty name.