That our sons [may be] as plants grown up in their youth; [that] our daughters [may be] as corner stones, polished [after] the similitude of a palace:
Ver. 12. That our sons may be as plants, &c.] As young plants, fair and flourishing.
That our daughters may be as corner stones, &c.] Tall and trim, comely of person and costly arrayed, resembling the polished pillars at palace gates. Tremellius rendereth the last words of this verse, sint structura templi, may be the building of the temple, that is, may be such living stones as may be used to the building and polishing of God's Church, that we may altogether grow up to a holy temple in the Lord, Ephesians 2:21; Ephesians 4:12,13. For, indeed, what can better preserve Jacob from confusion, or his face from waxing pale, than to see his children, the work of God's hands, framed and fitted for God's building. This maketh religious parents to sanctify God's name (as here), even to sanctify the Holy One, and with singular encouragement, from the God of Israel, Isaiah 29:22,23 .