Jeremiah 10:4
in Jeremiah 10They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
KJV
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
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This verse in Jeremiah 10
Commentary
3 notes on this verse(v. 4.) Decorated with silver and gold, fastened with nails and hammers, so that it would not be dissolved (or moved). He decorated it with silver and gold, to deceive the simple-minded with the splendor of both materials. This error has also passed to us, so that we consider wealth as a religion. He fastened it with nails and hammers, so that it would not be dissolved or moved. The power of these idols, which cannot stand on their own, unless they are fastened together with keys and hammers!
This site's exposition
O house of Israel
on Jeremiah 10:1-5
The oracle opens by addressing the house of Israel directly, warning them not to learn the way of the heathen or dread the signs of heaven the nations fear. What follows is the fullest anatomy in the book of how an idol is made, a tree cut from the forest, shaped by the axe, decked with silver and gold, fastened down with nails so it cannot totter. The bench's own restraint matches the caution this passage needs: it describes carving and plating an ancient cult image for worship, and the older commentators read it strictly against that practice rather than any wider application some later readers have drawn from it.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
They deck it - It was covered with plates of gold and silver, and then fastened with nails in its place, that it might not “more, i. e.” tumble down. The agreement in this and the following verses with the argument in Isa. 40–44 is so manifest, that no one can doubt that the one is modelled upon the other. If, therefore, Jeremiah took the thoughts and phrases from Isaiah, it is plain that the last 27 chapters of Isaiah were prior in date to Jeremiah’s time, and were not therefore written at the close of the Babylonian exile.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּכֶ֥סֶף | bekhesef | with silver | H3701 → | 403 times |
| וּבְזָהָ֖ב | uvezahav | and with gold | H2091 → | 389 times |
| יְיַפֵּ֑הוּ | yeyapehu | he beautifies it | H3302 → | |
| בְּמַסְמְר֧וֹת | bemasmerot | with nails | H4548 → | |
| וּבְמַקָּב֛וֹת | uvemakavot | and with hammers | H4717 → | |
| יְחַזְּק֖וּם | yechazekum | they make strong them | H2388 → | 291 times |
| וְל֥וֹא | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָפִֽיק׃ | yafik | it will wobble | H6328 → |
בְּכֶ֥סֶףwith silver
bekhesefH3701 →403 times
וּבְזָהָ֖בand with gold
uvezahavH2091 →389 times
יְיַפֵּ֑הוּhe beautifies it
yeyapehuH3302 →
בְּמַסְמְר֧וֹתwith nails
bemasmerotH4548 →
וּבְמַקָּב֛וֹתand with hammers
uvemakavotH4717 →
יְחַזְּק֖וּםthey make strong them
yechazekumH2388 →291 times
וְל֥וֹאand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יָפִֽיק׃it will wobble
yafikH6328 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 135:15The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
it leads to
- Psalms 115:4–8
Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Jeremiah 10:3–11
For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman.
- Habakkuk 2:18–19
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.
- Isaiah 37:19
They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands.
- Acts 17:29
Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.
- Psalms 115:4–8
Through
Isaiah 46:7They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not…
it leads to
- Isaiah 45:20
Come, gather together, and draw near, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry idols of wood and pray to a god that cannot save.
- Jeremiah 10:5
Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any…
- Isaiah 45:20
Through
Isaiah 44:12The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to…
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:19
To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
- Isaiah 40:19
Where this verse is studied
No study on the site is anchored to this verse yet.
Also on Jeremiah 10: 1 study that walk through this chapter ▾
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.