Jeremiah 10:4
◄  Jeremiah 10:4  ►
New International Version (©2011)
They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.

New Living Translation (©2007)
They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won't fall over.

English Standard Version (©2001)
They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"They decorate it with silver and with gold; They fasten it with nails and with hammers So that it will not totter.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
He decorates it with silver and gold. It is fastened with hammer and nails, so it won't totter.

International Standard Version (©2012)
They decorate it with silver and gold. They secure it with nails and hammers so it won't totter.

NET Bible (©2006)
He decorates it with overlays of silver and gold. He uses hammer and nails to fasten it together so that it will not fall over.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Craftsmen decorate them with silver and gold and fasten them [together] with hammers and nails so that they won't fall over.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it moves not.

American King James Version
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

American Standard Version
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

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

Darby Bible Translation
they deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

English Revised Version
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

Webster's Bible Translation
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it may not move.

World English Bible
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.

Young's Literal Translation
With silver and with gold they beautify it, With nails and with hammers they fix it, And it doth not stumble.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-16 The prophet shows the glory of Israel's God, and exposes the folly of idolaters. Charms and other attempts to obtain supernatural help, or to pry into futurity, are copied from the wicked customs of the heathen. Let us stand in awe, and not dare provoke God, by giving that glory to another which is due to him alone. He is ready to forgive, and save all who repent and believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ. Faith learns these blessed truths from the word of God; but all knowledge not from that source, leads to doctrines of vanity.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - They deck it... that it move not. The close resemblance of this verse to Isaiah 40:19, 20; Isaiah 41:7, will strike every reader. "Move" should rather be totter.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. fasten … move not—that is, that it may stand upright without risk of falling, which the god (!) would do, if left to itself (Isa 41:7).

Jeremiah 10:4 Parallel Commentaries

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The Sovereignty of God
…3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. 4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. …

Psalm 115:4 But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.
Isaiah 40:19 As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it.
Isaiah 40:20 A person too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot; they look for a skilled worker to set up an idol that will not topple.
Isaiah 41:7 The metalworker encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths with the hammer spurs on the one who strikes the anvil. One says of the welding, "It is good." The other nails down the idol so it will not topple.
Isaiah 46:6 Some pour out gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith to make it into a god, and they bow down and worship it.
Hosea 13:2 Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of these people, "They offer human sacrifices! They kiss calf-idols!"
Habakkuk 2:19 Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!' Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it."