Ésaïe 44:4

Louis Segond

Ils pousseront comme au milieu de l'herbe, Comme les saules près des courants d'eau.

Parallel Translations

La Bible David Martin (1744)
Et ils germeront [comme] parmi l'herbage, comme les saules aupr�s des eaux courantes.

La Bible Ostervald (1996)
Ils cro�tront comme au milieu de l'herbe, comme les saules aupr�s des eaux courantes.

Darby's French Translation
et ils germeront parmi l'herbe, comme les saules aupr�s des courants d'eau.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

spring: Isaiah 58:11, Isaiah 61:11, Psalms 1:3, Psalms 92:13-15, Acts 2:41-47, Acts 4:4, Acts 5:14

willows: Psalms 137:1, Psalms 137:2, Ezekiel 17:5

Reciprocal: Psalms 69:36 - The seed Psalms 87:5 - of Zion Isaiah 30:25 - upon every high Isaiah 35:7 - the parched Ezekiel 36:27 - I will Zechariah 12:10 - I will pour Luke 3:16 - he shall Luke 6:21 - for ye shall be Luke 11:13 - give the Luke 24:49 - I send John 3:5 - born Acts 2:38 - and ye Galatians 3:14 - might

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they shall spring up as among the grass,.... That is, such on whom the Spirit of the Lord shall be poured with his gifts and grace, and with the blessings of it: by the "grass" may be meant common believers, comparable to green grass, for their numbers, being many; for their weakness in themselves; for their flourishing condition; like grass for its greenness, and verdure, and its springing up by clear shining after rain; see Psalms 72:6 and by those that "spring up among them" are intended the apostles and ministers of the word, who exceed common Christians in their gifts, and grace, and usefulness; grow up higher and taller than they, like palm trees and cedars in Lebanon; and as such exceed private saints as tall trees exceed the grass they grow among:

as willows by the water courses; a sort of trees well known, and which delight in watery places, and grow best on banks of rivers, and shoot up apace in a very short time, and spread their branches; so the apostles, after the effusion of the Spirit on them, grew quickly in gifts, and grace, and evangelic knowledge; and their usefulness spread far and near. The Targum is,

"the righteous shall grow tender and delicate as the flowers of the grass, as a tree that sends forth its roots by flows of water.''

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And they shall spring up - The idea is, that as plants and trees planted by water-courses, and in well-watered fields, grow and flourish, so should their children grow in virtue, hope, piety, and zeal.

As among the grass - They shall spring up and flourish as the grass does when abundantly watered from heaven. On the meaning of the unusual form of the word בבים b^ebēyn, in the Hebrew (“in among”), see Vitringa and Rosenmuller. The ב (b) here is undoubtedly an error of the transcriber for כ (k) (“as”) - an error which, from the similarity of the letters, might be readily made. The Septuagint reads it, Ὡς Hōs - ‘As.’ The Chaldee reads it, כ (k) (“as”).

As willows by the water-courses - Willows are usually planted in such places, and grow rapidly and luxuriantly. It denotes here, abundant increase, vigor and beauty; and means that their posterity would be greatly blessed of God. A similar figure to denote the prosperity and happiness of the righteous occurs in Psalms 1:3 :

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,

That bringeth forth his fruit in his season;

His leaf also shall not wither.

These two verses teach us:

1. That God will pour his blessings on the children of his people - a promise which in all ages, when parents are faithful, is abundantly fulfilled.

2. That one of the richest blessings which can be imparted to a people is, that God’s Spirit should descend on their children.

3. That the Spirit of God alone is the source of true happiness and prosperity to our children. All else - property, learning, accomplishment. beauty, vigor, will be vain. It is by his blessing only - by the influence of piety - that they will spring forth as among the grass, and like willows by the streams of water.

4. Parents should pray earnestly for a revival of religion. No better description can be given of a revival than that given here - the Spirit of God descending like streams and floods on the young; and their springing forth in the graces of piety as among the grass, and growing in love to God and love to mankind like willows by the water-courses. Who would not pray for such a work of grace? What family, what congregation, what people can be happy without it?

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 44:4. They shall spring up as among the grass - "They shall spring up as the grass among the waters"] בבין חציר bebeyn chatsir, "They shall spring up in the midst of, or rather, in among, the grass." This cannot be right: eleven MSS., and thirteen editions, have כבין kebeyn, or כבן keben. Twenty-four MSS. read it without the י yod, בבן beben, in the son of the grass; and so reads the Chaldee; בבן beben, in the son of the grass.

Twenty-four MSS. of Dr. Kennicott's, thirty-three of De Rossi's, and one of my own, with six editions, have this reading. The Syriac, מבין mibbeyn. The true reading is in all probability כבין kebeyn; and the word מים mayim, which should have followed it, is lost out of the text: but it is happily supplied by the Septuagint, ὡς ανα μεσον ὑδατος, as among the water. "In every place where there is water, there is always grass; for water makes every thing grow in the east." Sir John Chardin's note on 1 Kings 17:5. Harmer's Observations i. 64.