Jeremiah 10:4

4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails, that it not move.

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 Thus hath the LORD said, Do not learn the way of the Gentiles, and do not fear the signs of heaven, even though the Gentiles fear them.

3 For the customs of the peoples are vanity: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails, that it not move.

5 They compare them to the palm tree, and they do not speak: they must be carried, because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither do they have power to do good.

6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.