This verse alludes to an historical background that is not clear. It seems to refer to a destruction of houses and towns in the kingdom of Israel, but the agent and time of that destruction are not specified. Some scholars have suggested that this damage was caused by a major earthquake during the reign of Jeroboam~II (see 5.25; Amos 1.1; Zech 14.5). Fortunately, this lack of information will not affect a translation of the verse. This destruction appears to be the subject matter of the warning or event mentioned in verse 8; see the comments there. It is different from the “devouring” by Syria and the Philistines mentioned in verse 12.

The first two lines of this verse are parallel to the last two lines. The people plan to rebuild what was destroyed. However, because of their arrogance they plan to use expensive building materials (dressed stones and cedars) instead of ordinary ones (bricks and sycamores). The overall tone here indicates that they have not learned their lesson from the destruction of their buildings.

The bricks have fallen: Bricks were made from mud or clay that was mixed with straw. After they were formed, they were dried. There is a description of their manufacture in Gen 11.3 and Exo 5. The bricks have fallen does not mean they just toppled over and fell. Rather, it refers to the destruction of their buildings (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). The Hebrew verb rendered fallen links this verse to verse 8, where it is translated “light upon.” This link implies that the destruction was the content of God’s message. Translators will need to consider how to express the thought here more directly. Good News Translation may provide a good model. Bible en français courant has “The walls made of bricks have fallen.” No version consulted uses a verb meaning “destroy” to describe what happened to the bricks, but a good alternative here is “They have destroyed our brick houses.”

But we will build with dressed stones: In contrast to using bricks, they will rebuild with dressed stones, that is, solid stones cut and shaped for building. Such stones were much more expensive, and the buildings made with them were more permanent. Solomon’s Temple was built of such stones (see 1 Kgs 5.17; 6.36).

The sycamores have been cut down: This statement could simply mean the sycamore trees were cut down (so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), but the context suggests that this refers to the destruction of homes built from sycamore timber. “Sycamore” was a relatively poor quality timber from the Mediterranean coastal plain (see 1 Kgs 10.27). The sycamore tree produced a fruit belonging to the fig family. Since sycamores refers to timber used in building rather than to trees, it may be rendered “sycamore pillars,” “sycamore timbers,” or “beams of sycamore wood” (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant). It may be best to maintain the word “sycamore,” especially since cedars are mentioned next. Translators may say “ordinary [or, common] wood from the sycamore tree” to indicate the quality of this wood. However, they could drop the word “sycamore” and use a more generic term if the term refers to wood that is inferior to cedar wood (see the second example below). If some languages require an active form in place of the passive construction have been cut down, a possibility is “They [or, People] have cut down….”

But we will put cedars in their place: In contrast to the poor quality timber used in their previous buildings, the people will rebuild using “cedar” wood, which was the best quality timber available. It came from Lebanon. It was used to build the Temple (see 1 Kgs 5.6; 6.9). The Hebrew verb translated will put … in their place means “to change for the better” or “to substitute.” Most literal versions give the sense that the people will plant a different kind of tree to replace the ones cut down. However, that literal understanding is almost certainly incorrect. Cedars did not grow in Palestine, so it is unlikely that the people would plant them there, unless they are referred to here as part of a figure of speech. The most likely sense of this line is that the people will use top quality timber when they rebuild their homes.

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates verse 9 as follows: “The houses made of bricks have collapsed—who cares, we will rebuild them with dressed stones! The beams made of wood of the sycamore tree have been destroyed—who cares, in their place we will place beams of cedar!” Other possibilities are:

• “They may have knocked down our brick homes,
but we will rebuild [them] with cut stone;
they may have cut down our pillars made with sycamore wood,
but we will replace them with pillars of cedar.”

• “They have destroyed our homes of brick,
but we will rebuild them with cut stone;
they have torn down our poor wooden houses,
but we will replace them with cedar ones.”

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .