“The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with smooth stones; The sycamores have been cut down, But we will replace them with cedars.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with cut stone. The sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.”
- KJV The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
- BSB “The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”
- NKJV “The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with hewn stones; The sycamores are cut down, But we will replace them with cedars.”
- NLT They said, “We will replace the broken bricks of our ruins with finished stone, and replant the felled sycamore-fig trees with cedars.”
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
In defiant pride, the people boast they will rebuild stronger after disaster instead of repenting.
Overview
Rather than seeing God's hand in their losses, the people vow to replace fallen brick with cut stone and felled trees with cedar. Their confidence is in their own resilience, not in turning to God. This self-reliant pride in the face of warning only deepens their guilt and coming ruin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Mal 1:4Whereas Edom says, “We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places”; Yahweh of Armies says, “They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them ‘The Wicked Land,’ even the people against whom Yahweh shows wrath forever.”
- 1 Kgs 10:27The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedars as common as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland.
- 1 Kgs 7:9–12All these were of costly stones, even of cut stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 9:10 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.