Jeremiah 10:4
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
American King James Version (AKJV)
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
American Standard Version (ASV)
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
They make it beautiful with silver and gold; they make it strong with nails and hammers, so that it may not be moved.
Webster's Revision
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it may not move.
World English Bible
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.
English Revised Version (ERV)
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
Barnes's Jeremiah 10:4 Bible Commentary
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 Isaiah 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 Jeremiah 7-9.
