Psalms 144:12

That our sonsmay be like plants well grown in their youth] Cp. Psalms 128:3. Plantdenotes a freshly planted sapling sending up its young shoots, LXX νεόφυτα, cp. Job 14:9. Vergil uses a similar comparison (Aen.ix. 674), "Abietibus iuvenes patriis et montibus aequos."

The word for well-grown, which may be used either of children (Isaiah 1:2, nourished) or of trees (Isaiah 44:14), is to be connected with plants; in their youthbelongs to sons.

our daughters… like corner pillars sculptured in the fashion of a palace] The exact meaning is uncertain. If this rendering is right, it is natural to think of the Caryatides, the graceful female figures so commonly employed as columns in Greek architecture. -Tall and stately" would be the ideas suggested by the comparison. But, as Delitzsch points out, the architecture of Syria and Palestine has never employed Caryatideseither in ancient or modern times. On the other hand the corners of the large rooms in the houses of wealthy Orientals are commonly ornamented with carved work richly coloured and gilded. He would render like richly coloured corners, and supposes that the comparison refers to the bright dresses and rich ornaments worn by the women. Cp. 2 Samuel 1:24. This explanation is however less natural.