His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
Parallel translations
- WEB His branches will spread, and his beauty will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon.
- BSB His shoots will sprout, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
- NKJV His branches shall spread; His beauty shall be like an olive tree, And his fragrance like Lebanon.
- NASB His shoots will sprout, His majesty will be like the olive tree, And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
- NLT Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Restored Israel will spread out in beauty like the olive tree with the fragrance of Lebanon. It continues the picture of vibrant, God-given flourishing.
Overview
The olive tree symbolizes lasting fruitfulness and blessing, while Lebanon's fragrance evokes loveliness and abundance. These images portray a people made beautiful and useful again through God's healing love. The renewal promised here looks ahead to the flourishing of God's redeemed people, made fruitful by his grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 52:8But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
- Phil 4:18But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.
- Ps 128:3Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
- Ezek 31:3–10Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
- Dan 4:10–15Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great.
- Ps 80:9–11Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.
- Song 4:11–15Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
- Gen 27:27And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:
- Matt 13:31Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
- Jer 11:16The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
- Ezek 17:5–8He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.
- 2 Cor 2:14–15Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
- John 15:1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
- Rom 11:16–24For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
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Christ at the center
God's relentless love for an unfaithful bride dramatizes the gospel: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' is fulfilled in Jesus, who redeems an adulterous people at his own cost.
How Hosea 14:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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