Jeremiah 10:4

Lexham English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹ Hear the word that Yahweh speaks to you, O house of Israel. ² Thus says Yahweh: "You must not learn the way of the nations, and you must not be dismayed by the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed by them. ³ For the statutes of the peoples are vanity, for it is a tree cut down from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with the tool. ⁴ He decorates it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers, so that it does not stagger. ⁵ They are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, they cannot speak. Indeed, they must be carried, for they cannot march. You must not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil; furthermore, to do good is not in them." ⁶ There is none like you, O Yahweh, you are great and your name is great in might. ⁷ Who would not revere you, O king of the nations? For you it is fitting. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you. ⁸ At the same time they are stupid and foolish, in the instruction of idols, it is wood. ⁹ Silver beaten from Tarshish is brought, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and the hands of the goldsmith. Blue and purple are their clothing, all of them are the work of skillful people. ¹⁰ But Yahweh is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king. Because of his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his anger.

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
The ships will come from the hand of the Kittim, and they will afflict Asshur and will afflict Eber; also he will be forever ruin."

Isaiah 23:1
The oracle of Tyre: Wail, ships of Tarshish, for the house is destroyed so that no one can enter; it is announced to them from the land of Cyprus.

Isaiah 23:12
And he said, "You will not continue to exult, crushed one, virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, cross over to Cyprus! There will be no rest for you even there."

Ezekiel 27:12
"‘Tarshish was your trader; from the abundance of all of their wealth, with silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your merchandise.

Ezekiel 27:25
The ships of Tarshish were carrying for you your wares, and you were filled, and you became very heavy in the heart of the seas.

Daniel 11:30
And the ships of Kittim will come against him, and he will lose heart, and he will turn back, and he will be enraged against the holy covenant, and he will take action, and he will turn back, and he will pay attention to those who forsake the holy covenant.

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.