Discovery BoxIsaiah 9:10 
Context9:10 “The bricks have fallen,
but we will rebuild with chiseled stone;
the sycamore fig trees have been cut down,
but we will replace them with cedars.” 1
Isaiah 14:8
Context14:8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, 2
as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, 3
‘Since you fell asleep, 4
no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ 5
Isaiah 41:19
Context41:19 I will make cedars, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees grow in the wilderness;
I will make evergreens, firs, and cypresses grow together in the desert.
Isaiah 44:14
Context44:14 He cuts down cedars
and acquires a cypress 6 or an oak.
He gets 7 trees from the forest;
he plants a cedar 8 and the rain makes it grow.
1 sn Though judgment (see v. 8) had taken away the prosperity they did have (symbolized by the bricks and sycamore fig trees), they arrogantly expected the future to bring even greater prosperity (symbolized by the chiseled stone and cedars).
2 tn Heb “concerning you.”
3 tn The word “singing” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Note that the personified trees speak in the second half of the verse.
4 tn Heb “lay down” (in death); cf. NAB “laid to rest.”
5 tn Heb “the [wood]cutter does not come up against us.”
6 tn It is not certain what type of tree this otherwise unattested noun refers to. Cf. ASV “a holm-tree” (NRSV similar).
7 tn Heb “strengthens for himself,” i.e., “secures for himself” (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמֵץ Pi.2).
8 tn Some prefer to emend אֹרֶן (’oren) to אֶרֶז (’erez, “cedar”), but the otherwise unattested noun appears to have an Akkadian cognate, meaning “cedar.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 44-45. HALOT 90 s.v. I אֹרֶן offers the meaning “laurel.”
