Jeremiah 10:4

THE MESSAGE

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.

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

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

¹Listen to the Message that God is sending your way, House of Israel. Listen most carefully: "Don't take the godless nations as your models. Don't be impressed by their glamour and glitz, no matter how much they're impressed. The religion of these peoples is nothing but smoke. An idol is nothing but a tree chopped down, then shaped by a woodsman's ax. They trim it with tinsel and balls, use hammer and nails to keep it upright. It's like a scarecrow in a cabbage patch—can't talk! Dead wood that has to be carried—can't walk! Don't be impressed by such stuff. It's useless for either good or evil." ⁶All this is nothing compared to you, O God . You're wondrously great, famously great. Who can fail to be impressed by you, King of the nations? It's your very nature to be worshiped! Look far and wide among the elite of the nations. The best they can come up with is nothing compared to you. Stupidly, they line them up—a lineup of sticks, good for nothing but making smoke. Gilded with silver foil from Tarshish, covered with gold from Uphaz, Hung with violet and purple fabrics— no matter how fancy the sticks, they're still sticks. ¹⁰ But God is the real thing— the living God, the eternal King. When he's angry, Earth shakes. Yes, and the godless nations quake. ¹¹"Tell them this, ‘The stick gods who made nothing, neither sky nor earth, Will come to nothing on the earth and under the sky.'" But it is God whose power made the earth, whose wisdom gave shape to the world, who crafted the cosmos. He thunders, and rain pours down. He sends the clouds soaring. He embellishes the storm with lightnings, launches wind from his warehouse. Stick-god worshipers looking mighty foolish, god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods! Their gods are frauds—dead sticks, deadwood gods, tasteless jokes. When the fires of judgment come, they'll be ashes. ¹⁶ But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing. He put the whole universe together And pays special attention to Israel. His name? God -of-the-Angel-Armies!

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

Isaiah 23:1
Wail, ships of Tarshish, your strong seaports all in ruins! When the ships returned from Cyprus, they saw the destruction. Hold your tongue, you who live on the seacoast, merchants of Sidon. Your people sailed the deep seas, buying and selling, Making money on wheat from Shihor, grown along the Nile— multinational broker in grains! Hang your head in shame, Sidon. The Sea speaks up, the powerhouse of the ocean says, "I've never had labor pains, never had a baby, never reared children to adulthood, Never gave life, never worked with life. It was all numbers, dead numbers, profit and loss."

Ezekiel 27:12
"‘Tarshish carried on business with you because of your great wealth. They worked for you, trading in silver, iron, tin, and lead for your products.

Ezekiel 27:25
"‘The great Tarshish ships were your freighters, importing and exporting. Oh, it was big business for you, trafficking the seaways!

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.