What Does Isaiah 44:14 Mean in the King James?
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 analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
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.
“nourish” 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.
“strengtheneth” 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.
“heweth 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 made the LORD God to grow 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 knowledge of good and evil.He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;THE THREAD
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto 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.
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