Jeremiah describes idols as crafted objects that cannot speak and must be carried because they cannot walk (Jeremiah 10:3–5). The point is their powerlessness compared to the LORD.
In Jeremiah 10:1–5, Yahweh tells Israel not to copy the surrounding nations’ religious habits or to panic at heavenly signs that others treat as omens. Jeremiah then describes, almost step by step, how people make an idol from a cut tree and decorate and stabilize it so it will not topple. These verses function as a direct address to “the house of Israel,” introducing a warning about adopting non-Israelite practices.
Jeremiah 10:1–5 presents Yahweh addressing “the house of Israel” directly. The passage contrasts Israel with “the nations”: other peoples are frightened by “signs of the sky,” and they follow customs that Jeremiah calls “vanity” (empty and ineffective).
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Jeremiah 10:3-5, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
3For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.
4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move.
5They are like a palm-tree, of turned work, and don`t speak: they must be carried, because they can`t go. Don`t be afraid of them; for they can`t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.