Jeremiah 10:4

4 He hath decked it with silver and gold: he hath put it together with nails and hammers, that it may not fall asunder.

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 saith the Lord: Learn not according to the ways of the Gentiles: and be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the heathens fear:

3 For the laws of the people are vain: for the works of the hand of the workman hath cut a tree out of the forest with an axe.

4 He hath decked it with silver and gold: he hath put it together with nails and hammers, that it may not fall asunder.

5 They are framed after the likeness of a palm tree, and shall not speak: they must be carried to be removed, because they cannot go. Therefore fear them not, for they can neither do evil nor good.

6 There is none like to thee, O Lord: thou art great, and great is thy name in might.