The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
The bricks are fallen down. In the East bricks are generally sun-dried, and therefore soon dissolved by rain. Granting, say the Ephraimites to the prophet's threat, that our affairs are in a ruinous state, we will restore them to more than their former magnificence. Self-confident unwillingness to see and to repent under the judgments of God (Isaiah 26:11).
Hewn stones - (1 Kings 5:17).
The sycamores are cut down - growing abundantly on the low lands of Judea, and, though useful for building on account of their antiseptic property (which induced the Egyptians to use them for the cases of their mummies), not very valuable.
But we will change them into cedars. The cedar, on the other hand, was odorous, free from knots, durable, and precious (1 Kings 10:27). 'We will replace cottages with palaces.'