Jeremiah 10:4

4 "They ¹decorate it with silver and with gold; They ²fasten it with nails and with hammers So that it will not totter.

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 says the LORD , "Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens Although the nations are terrified by them;

3 For the customs of the peoples are delusion; Because it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

4 "They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers So that it will not totter.

5 "Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good."

6 There is none like You, O LORD ; You are great, and great is Your name in might.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 40:19
• 2. Isaiah 40:20; Isaiah 41:7