There will be so few trees left in his forest, a child will be able to count them. ¹ 

you who practice ritual sex ¹  under the oaks and every green tree, who slaughter children near the streams under the rocky overhangs. ² 

It was reported to the family ¹  of David, “Syria has allied with ²  Ephraim.” They and their people were emotionally shaken, just as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. ³ 

Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? ¹  As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

They have burned the gods of the nations, ¹  for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. ² 

To make a contribution one selects wood that will not rot; ¹  he then seeks a skilled craftsman to make ²  an idol that will not fall over.

I will make cedars, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees grow in the wilderness; I will make evergreens, firs, and cypresses grow together in the desert.

A carpenter takes measurements; ¹  he marks out an outline of its form; ²  he scrapes ³  it with chisels, and marks it with a compass. He patterns it after the human form, ⁴  like a well-built human being, and puts it in a shrine. ⁵ 

He cuts down cedars and acquires a cypress ¹  or an oak. He gets ²  trees from the forest; he plants a cedar ³  and the rain makes it grow.

Gather together and come! Approach together, you refugees from the nations! Those who carry wooden idols know nothing, those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

Indeed you will go out with joy; you will be led along in peace; the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout before you, and all the trees in the field will clap their hands.

No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, ¹  or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, ²  for my people will live as long as trees, ³  and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. ⁴ 

For ¹  the burial place is already prepared; ²  it has been made deep and wide for the king. ³  The firewood is piled high on it. ⁴  The Lord’s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone, will ignite it.

No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves: ‘I burned half of it in the fire – yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to dry wood?’ ¹ 

Shout for joy, O sky, for the Lord intervenes; ¹  shout out, you subterranean regions ²  of the earth. O mountains, give a joyful shout; you too, O forest and all your trees! ³  For the Lord protects ⁴  Jacob; he reveals his splendor through Israel. ⁵ 

No foreigner who becomes a follower of ¹  the Lord should say, ‘The Lord will certainly ²  exclude me from his people.’ The eunuch should not say, ‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.’”

Instead of bronze, I will bring you gold, instead of iron, I will bring you silver, instead of wood, I will bring you ¹  bronze, instead of stones, I will bring you ²  iron. I will make prosperity ³  your overseer, and vindication your sovereign ruler. ⁴