What Does Isaiah 44:14 Mean?
He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and toughens them for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants an ash, and the rain makes it tall.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.THE KEY
The wood a person can shape into a god first grows by rain beyond that person’s control.
THE MEANING
The tree is cut and selected, while another is planted and made to grow by rain. Human craft begins with material already sustained by life it did not originate.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that what human hands make can be its own source of life.
THE ROOT
יְגַדֵּל
yegaddel
GROWS FROM
גדל
To grow, become great, or increase.
“makes it tall” in this verse is yegaddel. The Hebrew verb says the rain makes the tree grow. The same root carries the sense of becoming great, revealing that the tree’s growth comes from a source beyond the person who selects or works the wood.
ALSO GROWS
gadol: Great, large.
גָּדוֹל
The root links the tree’s simple growth with becoming great or large.
migdal: Tower, a raised structure.
מִגְדָּל
This form carries the image of something grown or raised up, extending the root’s sense of increase.
וַיְאַמֶּץ
way'amets
GROWS FROM
אמץ
To be strong or firm; to strengthen.
“toughens” in this verse is way'amets. The person makes a tree strong or suitable for his purpose, but the verse immediately places its growth in the rain’s hands. Human preparation works within a life it does not supply.
ALSO GROWS
ammets: Strengthen, make firm.
אַמֵּץ
This verb names the human effort to make the selected wood suitable for use.
ammits: Strong, courageous.
אַמִּיץ
The related adjective shows the root’s sense of firmness or strength.
כָּרַת
karat
GROWS FROM
כרת
To cut, cut off, or cut down.
“cuts down” in this verse is karat. The verb for cutting down the tree also appears in the Hebrew phrase for making a covenant: literally, to cut a covenant. The shared root holds both severing and binding in one word, though the verse here describes the tree being cut.
ALSO GROWS
nikhrat: Be cut off.
נִכְרַת
This form keeps the root’s image of something severed or removed.
karat berit: Cut a covenant; make a covenant.
כָּרַת בְּרִית
The same verb gives the covenant phrase its image of a bond established through cutting.
THE PATTERN
What human hands select and shape is already sustained by life they did not originate.
And out of the ground the LORD God caused to sprout every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowing good and evil.He makes the grass sprout for the cattle, and the herb for the service of humankind, to bring bread out from the earth.Nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, for he himself gives to all life and breath and all things.THE THREAD
On that day the LORD cut a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.The Hebrew verb for “heweth down” is כָּרַת (karat), the same verb used in the phrase “cut a covenant.” One root names both cutting the tree away from its life and the act of establishing a covenant.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us