“But you!
O mountains of Israel!
You shall shoot out
Your branches.
You shall yield
Your fruit
For my people,
Israel.
They shall soon
Come home.”
Yahweh, via Ezekiel, told the mountains of Israel to shoot out from its branches. They were to get ready the yield from the fruit of its trees for his people. Why should they do this? Very simply, the people of Israel would return home soon, a common theme.
“Even the nations are
Like a drop from a bucket.
The nations are accounted
Like dust on the scales.
See!
He takes up the isles
Like fine dust.
Lebanon would not provide fuel enough.
Its animals are not enough for a burnt offering.
All the nations are as nothing
Before him.
They are accounted by him
As less than nothing,
Emptiness.”
Second Isaiah has Yahweh compare the value of all the countries and nations. They amount to nothing. They are like a drop in the bucket or dust on a scale. Yahweh considers all the islands like fine dust. Lebanon with all its trees would not be fuel enough for Yahweh. There were not enough animals there to make a burnt offering for him. All the nations are empty nothingness before Yahweh.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 