Jeremiah 10:4

Jer 10:4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

Ver. 4. They deck it with silver and with gold.] Gild it over to make it sightly; goodly gods there while. See Isa 4:4.

That it move not.] Ut non amittat, saith Tremellius: that it lose not the cost bestowed upon it.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:4 The carved image possessed no beauty or value of its own. Humans had to apply gold and silver to make it look impressive (see 10:9). Similarly, the image had no strength to stand by itself. It had to be secured to a foundation with hammer and nails.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Prophets use thus plainly and simply to set forth the vile absurdity of the idolaters, that men might learn to be ashamed of that whereunto their corrupt nature is most subject, read Isa. 44:12.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

4. The idol is covered with plates of silver and gold, and secured to its place.

move] lit. shake. Cp. Isa_40:20; Isa_41:7.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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. This passage then is a crucial one to the pseudo-Isaiah theory. Two answers are attempted,

(1) that the pseudo-Isaiah borrowed from Jeremiah. But this is refuted by the style, which is not that usual with Jeremiah.

(2) that it is an interpolation in Jeremiah.

But how then are we to account for its being found in the Septuagint Version? The only argument of real importance is that these verses break the continuity of thought; but the whole chapter is somewhat fragmentary, and not so closely connected as the previous three. Still there is a connection. The prophet had just included all Israel under the ban of uncircumcision: he now shows them their last chance of safety by enlarging upon the truth, that (compare Jer 9:23-24) their true glory is their God, not an idol of wood, but the King of nations. Then comes the sad feeling that they have rejected God and chosen idols Jer 10:17-18; then the nation’s deep grief Jer 10:19-22 and earnest prayer Jer 10:23-25. It is quite possible that only portions of the concluding part of Jeremiah’s templesermon were embodied in Baruch’s scroll, and that had the whole been preserved, we should have found the thoughts as orderly in development as those in Jer. 7–9.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Asunder. Isaias xliv. 8., Baruch vi. 3., and Wisdom xiii. 11. The pagans themselves laughed at such folly. (Calmet) --- If such things were gods, the makers and tools deserved more adoration: Fabri deorum vel parentes numinum, says Prudentius. The vanity of such idols was more easily discerned than that of the stars. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A further description of their workmanship, having no other comeliness but what they confer upon it, and they no greater security or certainty of it than as they can with hammer and nail make it fast, and fix it to some place, the wooden god being not able to preserve itself from falling; therefore it is rather to be meant of fastening to some wall or pillar, than of fastening their parts together, because they seem to be cut out of one entire piece, and therefore need it not.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

They deck it... that it move not. The close resemblance of this verse to Isa_40:19, 20 41:7, will strike every reader. "Move" should rather be totter.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

with nails clous in French.

and with sledge hammers A hammer, marteau in French.

it does not bend Heb. יפיק, it does not kneel with its knees. Comp. (I Sam. 25:31) “a stumbling block (פוקה)”; (Nahum 2:11) “and tottering (ופיק) of the knees.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.