Bible Strands
Isaiah 9:10
“The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Ephraim and the dwellers of Samaria speak defiantly to each other following a period of devastation, expressing arrogant pride before the Lord raises their foes in the next verse.
The words — נָפָ֖לוּ (na.Fa.lu) means they have fallen, and נַחֲלִֽיף (na.cha.Lif) means we will substitute, framing the speaker’s refusal to accept the destruction as final.
The thread — Malachi 1:4 records a similar boast of rebuilding after ruin, while 1 Kings 10:27 and 7:9 use cedar and finished stone as markers of Solomon’s wealth and temple construction.
Why it lands — The text states a human refusal to acknowledge divine judgment, replacing mourning with arrogant self-reliance. It demands a reader recognize that defiant pride precedes further divine intervention rather than securing deliverance.
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
The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
Cross-references
- Malachi 1:4 Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.
- 1 Kings 10:27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.
- 1 Kings 7:9 All these buildings were constructed with costly stones, cut to size and trimmed with saws inside and out from the foundation to the eaves, and from the outside to the great courtyard.