Lectionary Calendar
Friday, April 17th, 2026
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Bible in Basic English

Jeremiah 10:4

They make it beautiful with silver and gold; they make it strong with nails and hammers, so that it may not be moved.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Hammer;   Idolatry;   Nail;   Thompson Chain Reference - Hammers;   The Topic Concordance - Idolatry;   Learning;   Vanity;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Nail;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Nation;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Idol, Idolatry;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Idol;   Nail;   Palmtree;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Hammer;   Nail;   Tools;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Arts and Crafts;   Images;   Jeremiah;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Gold;   Hammer;   Jeremy, the Epistle of;   Nail;   Tools;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Hammer;   Jeremiah, Epistle of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He decorates it with silver and gold.It is fastened with hammer and nails,so it won’t totter.
Hebrew Names Version
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.
King James Version
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
English Standard Version
They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.
New American Standard Bible
"They decorate the idol with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not totter.
New Century Version
They decorate their idols with silver and gold. With hammers and nails they fasten them down so they won't fall over.
Amplified Bible
"They adorn the idol with silver and with gold; They fasten it with hammers and nails So that it will not fall apart.
World English Bible
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And another decketh it with siluer, and with golde: they fasten it with nailes, and hammers, that it fall not.
Legacy Standard Bible
They make it beautiful with silver and with gold;They strengthen it with nails and with hammersSo that it will not totter.
Berean Standard Bible
They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.
Contemporary English Version
cover it with silver and gold, and then nail it down so it won't fall over.
Complete Jewish Bible
they deck it with silver and gold. They fix it with hammer and nails, so that it won't move.
Darby Translation
they deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Easy-to-Read Version
They make their idols beautiful with silver and gold. They use hammers and nails to fasten their idols down so that they will not fall over.
George Lamsa Translation
They are decked with silver and with gold; men fasten them with hammers and nails, so that they may not fall apart.
Good News Translation
and decorated with silver and gold. It is fastened down with nails to keep it from falling over.
Lexham English Bible
He decorates it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers, so that it does not stagger.
Literal Translation
They adorn it with silver and with gold; they make them strong with nails and hammers, so that it will not wobble.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
they couer it ouer with golde or syluer, they fasten it wt nales and hammers, that it moue not.
American Standard Version
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
They deck it with silver and with gold, they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
King James Version (1611)
They decke it with siluer and with golde, they fasten it with nayles, and with hammers that it mooue not.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
They couer it ouer with golde or siluer, they fasten it with nailes and hammers, that it moue not.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
They are beautified with silver and gold, they fix them with hammers and nails;
English Revised Version
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He made it fair with siluer and gold; with naylis and hameris he ioynede it togidere, that it be not loosid.
Update Bible Version
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it will not move.
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.
New English Translation
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.
New King James Version
They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not topple.
New Living Translation
They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won't fall over.
New Life Bible
They make it beautiful with silver and gold. They put it together with nails so that it cannot fall apart.
New Revised Standard
people deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
With silver and with gold, he decketh it, - With nails and with hammers, they fasten them, that it may not totter.
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.
Revised Standard Version
Men deck it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot 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.
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.

Contextual Overview

1 Give ear to the word which the Lord says to you, O people of Israel: 2 This is what the Lord has said: Do not go in the way of the nations; have no fear of the signs of heaven, for the nations go in fear of them. 3 For that which is feared by the people is foolish: it is the work of the hands of the workman; for a tree is cut down by him out of the woods with his axe. 4 They make it beautiful with silver and gold; they make it strong with nails and hammers, so that it may not be moved. 5 It is like a pillar in a garden of plants, and has no voice: it has to be lifted, for it has no power of walking. Have no fear of it; for it has no power of doing evil and it is not able to do any good. 6 There is no one like you, O Lord; you are great and your name is great in power. 7 Who would not have fear of you, O King of the nations? for it is your right: for among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you. 8 But they are together like beasts and foolish: the teaching of false gods is wood. 9 Silver hammered into plates is sent from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the expert workman and of the hands of the gold-worker; blue and purple is their clothing, all the work of expert men. 10 But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and an eternal king: when he is angry, the earth is shaking with fear, and the nations give way before his wrath.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

deck: Psalms 115:4, Psalms 135:15, Isaiah 40:19, Isaiah 40:20

fasten: Isaiah 41:6, Isaiah 44:12, Isaiah 46:7

Reciprocal: Isaiah 46:6 - lavish Jeremiah 10:9 - Silver Daniel 5:4 - of gold Hosea 13:2 - have made Habakkuk 2:19 - it is Acts 17:29 - graven

Cross-References

Numbers 24:24
But ships will come from the direction of Kittim, troubling Asshur and troubling Eber, and like the others their fate will be destruction.
Isaiah 23:1
The word about Tyre. Let a cry of sorrow go up, O ships of Tarshish, because your strong place is made waste; on the way back from the land of Kittim the news is given to them.
Isaiah 23:12
And he said, There is no more joy for you, O crushed virgin daughter of Zidon: up! go over to Kittim; even there you will have no rest.
Ezekiel 27:12
Tarshish did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth; they gave silver, iron, tin, and lead for your goods.
Ezekiel 27:25
Tarshish ships did business for you in your goods: and you were made full, and great was your glory in the heart of the seas.
Daniel 11:30
For those who go out from the west will come against him, and he will be in fear and will go back, full of wrath against the holy agreement; and he will do his pleasure: and he will go back and be united with those who have given up the holy agreement.

Gill's Notes on the 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 Jeremiah 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 Jeremiah 10:17-18; then the nation’s deep grief Jeremiah 10:19-22 and earnest prayer Jeremiah 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.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile