Ezekiel
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Ezekiel 31

Pharaoh Warned of Assyria’s Fate

1In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes,

‘Whom are you like in your greatness?
3 ‘Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon
With beautiful branches and forest shade,
And [a]very high,
And its top was among the [b]clouds.
4 ‘The waters made it grow, the [c]deep made it high.
With its rivers it continually [d]extended all around its planting place,
And sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.
5 ‘Therefore its height was loftier than all the trees of the field
And its boughs became many and its branches long
Because of many waters [e]as it spread them out.
6 ‘All the birds of the heavens nested in its boughs,
And under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth,
And all great nations lived under its shade.
7 ‘So it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches;
For its [f]roots extended to many waters.
8 ‘The cedars in God’s garden [g]could not match it;
The [h]cypresses [i]could not compare with its boughs,
And the plane trees [j]could not match its branches.
No tree in God’s garden [k]could compare with it in its beauty.
9 ‘I made it beautiful with the multitude of its branches,
And all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God, were jealous of it.

10 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord [l]God, “Because [m]it is high in stature and has set its top among the [n]clouds, and its heart is haughty in its loftiness, 11 therefore I will give it into the hand of a [o]despot of the nations; he will thoroughly deal with it. According to its wickedness I have driven it away. 12 Alien tyrants of the nations have cut it down and left it; on the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land. And all the peoples of the earth have gone down from its shade and left it. 13 On its ruin all the birds of the heavens will dwell, and all the beasts of the field will be on its fallen branches 14 so that all the trees by the waters may not be exalted in their stature, nor set their top among the [p]clouds, nor their [q]well-watered mighty ones stand erect in their height. For they have all been given over to death, to the earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit.”

15 ‘Thus says the Lord God, “On the day when it went down to Sheol I caused lamentations; I closed the [r]deep over it and held back its rivers. And its many waters were stopped up, and I made Lebanon [s]mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted away on account of it. 16 I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I made it go down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all the [t]well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, were comforted in the earth beneath. 17 They also went down with it to Sheol to those who were slain by the sword; and those who were its [u]strength lived under its shade among the nations.

18 “To which among the trees of Eden are you thus [v]equal in glory and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth beneath; you will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword. So is Pharaoh and all his hordes!”’ declares the Lord God.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 31:3 Lit high of stature
  2. Ezekiel 31:3 So Gr; M.T. thick boughs
  3. Ezekiel 31:4 I.e. subterranean waters
  4. Ezekiel 31:4 Lit was going
  5. Ezekiel 31:5 Lit in its sending forth
  6. Ezekiel 31:7 Lit root was
  7. Ezekiel 31:8 Lit did
  8. Ezekiel 31:8 Or Phoenician junipers
  9. Ezekiel 31:8 Lit did
  10. Ezekiel 31:8 Lit were not like
  11. Ezekiel 31:8 Lit did
  12. Ezekiel 31:10 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
  13. Ezekiel 31:10 Lit you are
  14. Ezekiel 31:10 Or thick boughs
  15. Ezekiel 31:11 Or mighty one
  16. Ezekiel 31:14 Or thick boughs
  17. Ezekiel 31:14 Lit drinkers of water
  18. Ezekiel 31:15 I.e. subterranean waters
  19. Ezekiel 31:15 Lit be darkened
  20. Ezekiel 31:16 Lit drinkers of water
  21. Ezekiel 31:17 Lit arm
  22. Ezekiel 31:18 Lit like
Ezekiel 31