Bible Strands
Jeremiah 10:4
They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses Israel concerning the construction of pagan idols, detailing the artisan's labor in shaping wood and metal. The words — יְחַזְּק֖וּ/ם (ye.cha.ze.Ku/m) means "they make strong," paired with יָפִֽיק (ya.Fik), literally "it will wobble," describing the attempt to stabilize a lifeless form. The thread — The description of idol craftsmanship and immobility reappears in Isaiah 40:19, Isaiah 46:7, and Psalm 115:4. Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to observe that human effort cannot secure or animate a crafted object, shifting focus from material works to the living God.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 46:7 They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.
- Isaiah 40:19 To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?
- Psalms 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Psalms 135:15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Isaiah 41:6 Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
- Isaiah 44:12 The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.