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Judgment on the Sacred Groves

29 [a]You shall be ashamed of the terebinths which you desired,
    and blush on account of the gardens which you chose.
30 You shall become like a terebinth whose leaves wither,
    like a garden that has no water.
31 The strong tree shall turn to tinder,
    and the one who tends it shall become a spark;
Both of them shall burn together,
    and there shall be none to quench them.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:29–31 These verses were secondarily inserted here on the catchword principle; like v. 28 they pronounce judgment on certain parties “together” (v. 31). The terebinths and gardens refer to the sacred groves or asherahs that functioned as idolatrous cultic symbols at the popular shrines or high places (1 Kgs 14:23; 2 Kgs 17:10). Hezekiah cut down these groves during his reform (2 Kgs 18:4); they were a religious issue during Isaiah’s ministry (cf. Is 17:7–11). Isaiah threatens those who cultivate these symbols with the same fate that befalls trees when deprived of water.