Isaiah 44:14

14 succidit cedros tulit ilicem et quercum quae steterat inter ligna saltus plantavit pinum quam pluvia nutrivit

Isaiah 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.

Isaiah 44:14 In-Context

12 faber ferrarius lima operatus est in prunis et in malleis formavit illud et operatus est in brachio fortitudinis suae esuriet et deficiet non bibet aquam et lassescet
13 artifex lignarius extendit normam formavit illud in runcina fecit illud in angularibus et in circino tornavit illud et fecit imaginem viri quasi speciosum hominem habitantem in domo
14 succidit cedros tulit ilicem et quercum quae steterat inter ligna saltus plantavit pinum quam pluvia nutrivit
15 et facta est hominibus in focum sumpsit ex eis et calefactus est et succendit et coxit panes de reliquo autem operatus est deum et adoravit fecit sculptile et curvatus est ante illud
16 medium eius conbusit igni et de medio eius carnes comedit coxit pulmentum et saturatus est et calefactus est et dixit va calefactus sum vidi focum
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.