Yǐsaìyàshū 44:14

14 Tā kǎn fá xiāng bó shù , yòu qǔ zuò ( huò zuò qīng tóng ) shù hé xiàngshù , zaì shùlín zhōng xuǎn déng le yī kē . tā zāizhòng sōng shù dé yǔ cháng yǎng ,

Yǐsaìyàshū 44:14 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 44:14

He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak,
&c.] To make gods of, trees both pleasant and durable, but all unfruitful: which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest;
taking a great deal of pains in seeking out such trees as were most fit for his use, and a great deal of care in the growth of them, that they might answer his end, as well as exerting his strength in cutting of them down: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it;
a tree that soon grows up, and which he plants for the purpose to make a god of; and this being watered and nourished with rain, which God vouchsafes, though designed for an idolatrous use, grows, and is fit for what it was intended; and being so, he cuts it down, and, makes an image of it; which shows his folly and madness, that a tree of his own planting, which he has seen the growth of, and yet be so sottish as to imagine that a god may be may be made of it. The word for "rain" signifies a body in the Syriac ^F7 language, as Kimchi observes, and for which he produces ( Daniel 4:33 ) , and so Aben Ezra says it signifies in the Arabic language ^F8; and the sense is, "the body" of the tree "grew up", and being grown up, was cut down, and used as follows.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F7 <arabic> "corpus", Luke iii. 22. 2Cor. x. 10. Castel. Lex. Polyglott. col. 627. So in the Chaldee language.
F8 So, according to Schindler, <arabic> signifies a body, Lex. Pentaglott. col. 347, 348.

Yǐsaìyàshū 44:14 In-Context

12 Tiĕ jiàng bǎ tiĕ zaì huǒ tàn zhōng shāo rè , yòng chuí dá tiĕ qì , yòng tā yǒulì de bì páng chuí chéng . tā jīè ér wúlì , bù hē shuǐ ér fā juàn .

13 Mùjiang lá xiàn , yòng bǐ huá chū yàngzi . yòng paó zǐ bào chéngxíng zhuàng , yòng yuán chĕ huá le mú yàng , fǎng zhào rén de tǐ taì , zuò chéng rén xíng , hǎo zhù zaì fángwū zhōng .

14 Tā kǎn fá xiāng bó shù , yòu qǔ zuò ( huò zuò qīng tóng ) shù hé xiàngshù , zaì shùlín zhōng xuǎn déng le yī kē . tā zāizhòng sōng shù dé yǔ cháng yǎng ,

15 Zhè shù , rén kĕ yòng yǐ shāo huǒ , tā zìjǐ qǔ xiē kǎohuǒ , yòu shāo zhe kǎo bǐng . érqiĕ zuò shénxiàng guìbaì , zuò diāokè de ǒuxiàng xiàng tā kòu baì .

16 Tā bǎ yī fèn shāo zaì huǒ zhōng , bǎ yī fèn kǎo ròu chī bǎo . zìjǐ kǎohuǒ shuō , a hǎ , wǒ nuǎnhuo le , wǒ jiàn huǒ le .