Jeremiah 10:4 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-16

The prophet Isaiah, when he prophesied of the captivity in Babylon, added warnings against idolatry and largely exposed the sottishness of idolaters, not only because the temptations in Babylon would be in danger of drawing the Jews there to idolatry, but because the afflictions in Babylon were designed to cure them of their idolatry. Thus the prophet Jeremiah here arms people against the idolatrous usages and customs of the heathen, not only for the use of those that had gone to Babylon, but... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 10:4

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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-5

The folly of paganism. I. THE FOLLY OF PAGANISM PROVES THE WEAKNESS OF SUPERSTITIOUS FEARS . The Jews were tempted to fear astrological portents ( Jeremiah 10:2 ) and idol-powers ( Jeremiah 10:5 ). Yet a little reflection was enough to show that these things were impotent for harm. The lowest religion is a product of fear. Superstition finds converts where rational faith fails. The trouble thus resulting from the weakness of men can only be dissipated by boldly... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-12

What men fear and what they ought to fear. I. WHAT MEN FEAR . They fear mere images of theft own manufacture . Note the connection between Jeremiah 10:2 and Jeremiah 10:3 . In Jeremiah 10:2 the heathen are spoken of as being dismayed at the signs of heaven. Probably these signs, considered in their more particular and direct connection with the dismay, were really images on earth, representing the supposed Divine dignity. of the bodies in the heavens. The heavenly... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-17

Idolatry. This section of Jeremiah's prophecy is one of the notable passages in the. Scriptures concerning idolatry. It is like that in Psalms 115:1-18 ; and in Isaiah 40:1-31 ; Isaiah 44:1-28 . It states or suggests much of great interest on this subject, and which deserves to be well considered by us. There is— I. THE TREMENDOUS FACT OF IDOLATRY . See: 1. The multitudes of mankind who have avowed such worship. 2. The wide extent of the world's inhabited... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-25

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 10:2-5

The helplessness of heathen gods a conclusive argument against them. How is the superstitious worship of nature and inanimate objects to be corrected? It is obvious that the attributes attached by the worshippers to the idols they worship are wholly foreign to them. It is ignorance, association, and the tendency to transfer subjective ideas to objects of sense, that have largely to do with this. The correction, therefore, must be furnished by a real analysis of the idol—a taking of it to... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Jeremiah 10:4

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... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Jeremiah 10:3-5

Jeremiah 10:3-5. One cutteth down a tree, &c. The prophet here exposes the folly of men’s worshipping the work of their own hands, by arguments similar to those which are used by Isaiah 44:10-20; where see the notes. They are upright, &c. They are like the trunk of the palm-tree Houb. “They are inflexible, immoveable, fixed, without action or motion, like the trunk of a tree: a comparison which admirably suits the ancient statues seen in Egypt and elsewhere, before the art of... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-16

Knowledge of the only true God (9:23-10:16)People may have knowledge, power and wealth, but these are no substitute for a true understanding and knowledge of God (23-24). The Judeans may have been circumcised as a sign that they are the covenant people of God, but in their hearts they have not been true to God or the covenant. They might as well be uncircumcised like their heathen neighbours. Israel’s rite of circumcision is no more beneficial to disobedient people than the heathen rite of... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-16

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 10:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-5

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-12

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-17

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-25

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 10:2-5

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Jeremiah 10:4

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Jeremiah 10:3-5

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 10:1-16

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