Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageHe spoke about trees—from the towering cedar of Lebanon down to the hyssop growing from the wall—and he spoke about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GHe spoke of trees—from the cedar of Levanon to the hyssop that springs from the wall—and he spoke of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
KJV
King James VersionAnd he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleHe spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
Footnotes
The span from cedar to hyssop—greatest to smallest—is a Hebrew merism, a rhetorical device using polar extremes to encompass the whole range between them. The cedar was the king of trees, used to build the Temple; hyssop was the lowliest plant, used in purification rites (Lev 14:4; Ps 51:7). The four categories—animals, birds, reptiles, fish—echo the creation taxonomy of Gen 1, suggesting Solomon's wisdom is encyclopaedic in scope: he comprehends all that Elohim has made, from the heights to the depths. FOG preserves the merism plainly; FOG Message's 'towering cedar' and 'down to the hyssop' draw out the vertical sweep of the image.