“Look!
The Sovereign!
Yahweh of hosts W
ill lop the boughs
With terrifying power.
The tallest trees
Will be cut down.
The lofty will be brought low.
He will hack down
The thickets of the forest
With an axe.
Lebanon
With its majestic trees
Will fall.”
Isaiah says that Yahweh with his armies will cut the tree branches with his terrible power. He will chop down the tallest trees, meaning the Assyrians. These proud invaders will be brought low. Yahweh will use an axe on the tall Lebanon cedar trees, as he cuts them down in this forest. They, the Assyrians, will all fall.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 