Jezekiel 31

1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first [day] of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

Then it came about in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, say to Pharao king of Egypt, and to his multitude; To whom have you compared yourself in your haughtiness?

“Son of man, say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his multitudes around him, 'In your greatness, who are you like?

3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cypress in Libanus, and was fair in shoots, and high in stature: his top reached to the midst of the clouds.

Behold! Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, giving shade to the forest, and the tallest in height, and the branches formed its treetop.

4 The water nourished him, the depth made him grow tall; she led her rivers round about his plants, and she sent forth her streams to all the trees of the field.

Many waters made it tall; the deep waters made it huge. Rivers flowed all around its area, for their channels stretched out to all the trees in the field.

5 Therefore was his stature exalted above all the trees of the field, and his branches spread far by the help of much water.

Its great height was more than any of the other trees in the field, and its branches became very many; its branches grew long because of many waters as they grew.

6 All the birds of the sky made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches all the wild beasts of the field bred; the whole multitude of nations lived under his shadow.

Every bird of the heavens nested in its branches, while every living thing of the field gave birth to its young under its foliage. All of the many nations lived under its shade.

7 And he was fair in his height by reason of the multitude of his branches: for his roots were amidst much water.

For it was beautiful in its greatness and the length of its branches, for its roots were in many waters.

8 And such cypresses [as this] were in the paradise of God; and there were no pines like his shoots, and there were no firs like his branches: no tree in the paradise of God was like him in his beauty,

Cedars in the garden of God could not equal it. None among the cypress trees matched its branches, and the plane tree could not equal its boughs. There was no other tree in the garden of God that was like it in its beauty.

9 because of the multitude of his branches: and the trees of God's paradise of delight envied him.

I made it beautiful with its many branches and all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied it.

10 Therefore thus says the Lord; Because you are grown great, and have set your top in the midst of the clouds, and I saw when he was exalted;

Therefore the Lord Yahweh says this: Because it was tall in height, and it set its treetop between its branches, it lifted up its heart because of its height.

11 therefore I delivered him into the hands of the prince of the nations, and he wrought his destruction.

I have given it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations, to deal with it according to what its wickedness deserves. I have thrown it out.

12 And ravaging strangers from the nations have destroyed him, and have cast him down upon the mountains: his branches fell in all the valleys, and his boughs were broken in every field of the land; and all the people of the nations are gone down from their shelter, and have laid him low.

Foreigners who were the terror of all the nations cut it off and left it to die. Its branches fell on the mountains and all the valleys, and its boughs lay broken in all the ravines of the land. Then all the nations on earth came out from under its shade and they went away from it.

13 All the birds of the sky have settled on his fallen trunk, and all the wild beasts of the field came upon his boughs:

All the birds of the sky rested on the trunk of the fallen tree, and every animal of the field came to its branches.

14 in order that none of the trees by the water should exalt themselves by reason of their size: whereas they set their top in the midst of the clouds, yet they continued not in their high state in their place, all that drank water, all were consigned to death, to the depth of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

This happened so that no other trees that grow by the waters will lift up their foliage to the height of the tallest trees, and that no other trees that grow beside the waters will reach up to that height. All of them have been assigned to death, to the earth below, among the children of humanity, with those that go down to the pit.

15 Thus says the Lord God; In the day wherein he went down to Hades, the deep mourned for him: and I stayed her floods, and restrained her abundance of water: and Libanus saddened for him, all the trees of the field fainted for him. (Sheol h7585)

The Lord Yahweh says this: On the day when the cedar went down to Sheol I brought mourning to the earth. I covered the deep waters over it, and I held back the ocean waters. I kept back the great waters, and I brought mourning to Lebanon for him. So all the trees of the field mourned because of it. (Sheol h7585)

16 At the sound of his fall the nations quaked, when I brought him down to Hades with them that go down to the pit: and all the trees of Delight comforted him in the heart, and the choice of [plants] of Libanus, all that drink water. (Sheol h7585)

I brought shuddering to the nations at the sound of its downfall, when I threw it down to Sheol with those who went down into the pit. So I comforted all the trees of Eden in the lowest parts of the earth. These had been the choicest and best trees of Lebanon; the trees that drank the waters. (Sheol h7585)

17 For they went down to hell with him amongst the slain with the sword; and his seed, [even] they that lived under his shadow, perished in the midst of their life. (Sheol h7585)

For they also went down with it to Sheol, to the ones who had been killed by the sword. These were its strong arm, those nations who had lived in its shade. (Sheol h7585)

18 To whom are you compared? descend, and be you debased with the trees of paradise to the depth of the earth: you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword. Thus shall Pharao be, and the multitude of his host, says the Lord God.

Which of the trees in Eden was your equal in glory and greatness? For you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lowest parts of the earth among the uncircumcised; you will live with those who were killed by the sword.' This is Pharaoh and all of his multitudes—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.”