Jeremiah 10:4 BSB — MannaFest

Jeremiah 10:4

They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

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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Commentary

2 voices

Jerome

Commentary on Jeremiah (420)

(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!

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

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.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

8 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
בְּכֶ֥סֶף	be.Khe.sef	with silver	H3701 →
וּבְזָהָ֖ב	u.ve.za.Hav	and with gold	H2091 →
יְיַפֵּ֑הוּ	ye.ya.Pe.hu	he beautifies it	H3302 →
בְּמַסְמְר֧וֹת	be.mas.me.Rot	with nails	H4548 →
וּבְמַקָּב֛וֹת	u.ve.ma.ka.Vot	and with hammers	H4717 →
יְחַזְּק֖וּם	ye.cha.ze.Kum	they make strong them	H2388 →
וְל֥וֹא	ve.Lo'	and not	H3808 →
יָפִֽיק׃	ya.Fik	it will wobble	H6328 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Psalms 135:15
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
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.
Through
Isaiah 46:7
They 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…
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…
Through
Isaiah 44:12
The 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…
leads to
- Isaiah 40:19
  To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

Featured studies on this passage

Walks through Jeremiah 10

Mazzaroth

Twelve constellation groupings; one biblical word (Job 38:32). Bullinger and Seiss read them as a gospel-arc; modern critics trace their figures to Albumazar, not Adam. The objections below are presented at full strength, and the founder's own slot on the page is his to fill.

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About Jeremiah

The Prophet Jeremiah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Jeremiah: the study guide →Read chapter 10 →The featured study →

Continue: Jeremiah 10 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Jeremiah

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Jeremiah