Bible Strands
Isaiah 41:19
I will plant cedars in the wilderness, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees. I will set cypresses in the desert, elms and boxwood together,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The LORD declares this promise to Israel during a period of national anxiety, immediately following a pledge to transform arid terrain into watered ground.
The words — אֶתֵּ֤ן ('eTen) literally means "I will put" or "I will plant," and אָשִׂ֣ים ('aSim) means "I will set" or "I will establish."
The thread — This planting motif recurs in Isaiah 55:13 where cypress and myrtle replace thornbushes, and in Isaiah 35:1 where the desert rejoices and blossoms.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that ecological reversal serves as visible proof of divine authorship, requiring the reader to acknowledge that the Holy One of Israel orchestrates the transformation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:
Cross-references
- Isaiah 55:13 Instead of the thornbush, the cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, the myrtle will spring up; this will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”
- Isaiah 37:31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
- Isaiah 35:1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
- Isaiah 60:13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you—its cypress, elm, and boxwood together—to adorn the place of My sanctuary, and I will glorify the place of My feet.
- Isaiah 60:21 Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever; they are the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, so that I may be glorified.
- Isaiah 61:11 For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden enables seed to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
- Isaiah 27:6 In the days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole world with fruit.
- Ezekiel 17:22 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take a shoot from the lofty top of the cedar, and I will set it out. I will pluck a tender sprig from its topmost shoots, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
- Psalms 92:13 Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
- Isaiah 32:15 until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high. Then the desert will be an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest.