Isaiah’s image is a continuation of the illustration in chapter 10, in which the enemies of God’s people are pictured as tall trees that the Lord will chop down. God not only knows how to chop down mighty woods; he knows how to generate renewed life in dying wood. The royal line of Judah is called the stump (גֶּזַע) of Jesse. Job 14:8, 9 uses the same word for a tree that has been cut down: “Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump (גֶּזַע) die in the soil, yet at the scent of water