Ezekiel 31

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

On the first day of the third month of the eleventh year, a message from the Lord came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, say unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: Whom art thou like in thy greatness?

“Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his many people: Who is as great as you?

3 Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature: and his top was amidst the thick boughs.

Look at Assyria. It was like a cedar in Lebanon, with its beautiful branches providing shade in the forest. It was so high that its top reached the clouds.

4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high; its streams ran round about his plantation, and it sent out its rivulets unto all the trees of the field.

Deep springs of water made it grow tall and sent streams all around it to water all the other trees.

5 Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long, because of great waters, when he shot forth.

It became really tall, higher than any other tree in the forest. Its branches grew thick and long because it was so well-watered.

6 All the fowl of the heavens made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all the great nations.

All kinds of birds nested in its branches, while underneath it different wild animals had their young, and all the powerful nations lived in its shade.

7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: because his root was by great waters.

It was beautiful and majestic with its long branches, because its roots reached down to the plentiful water.

8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him; the cypresses were not like his boughs, and the plane-trees were not as his branches: no tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.

The cedars in God's garden were no match for it. No pine tree had such great branches, nor did any plane tree. No tree in God's garden was as beautiful.

9 I had made him fair by the multitude of his branches; and all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.

I made it beautiful with its many branches. All the trees of Eden in God's garden envied it.

10 Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast lifted up thyself in stature, ...and he hath set his top amidst the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height,

So this is what the Lord God says: Since it became so tall, reaching up into the clouds, it grew proud because of its height.

11 I have given him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.

So I handed it over to the leader of a foreign nation who will punish it for its wickedness. I have thrown it out.

12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off and have left him; upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken in all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.

Foreigners from the cruelest of all the nations chopped it down and left it lying there. Its branches lie fallen and broken in the mountains and valleys of the countryside. Everybody in earth came out of its shadow and abandoned it.

13 Upon his fallen [trunk] do all the fowl of the heavens dwell, and all the beasts of the field are upon his branches:

Birds came to live on its fallen trunk, and wild animals hid among its fallen branches.

14 to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, nor set their top amidst the thick boughs, and that none of them that drink water stand up in his height by himself; for they are all given over unto death in the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

This was in order that no other trees growing by the water would grow up so high and have their tops reach the clouds. This was so that no other trees, however much water they had, would be as tall as them, For they all will die and go down into earth, just like human beings who go down into the grave.

15 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In the day when he went down to Sheol, I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed; and I made Lebanon black for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. (Sheol h7585)

This is what the Lord God says: On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I had the deep waters mourn for it; I stopped its rivers flowing; I held back all its waters. I covered Lebanon in darkness, and all the trees in the forest withered. (Sheol h7585)

16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol, with them that go down into the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth. (Sheol h7585)

I made the nations tremble when they heard it fall, when I threw it down into Sheol with those who die. Then all the trees of Eden, the finest and best in Lebanon, all the trees that had plenty of water, were happy that this tree joined them in the earth below. (Sheol h7585)

17 They also went down into Sheol with him unto them that were slain with the sword, and [that were] his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the nations. (Sheol h7585)

They also went down with it into Sheol, to those who had been killed by the sword. They had been part of its army living in its shade among the nations. (Sheol h7585)

18 To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden, unto the lower parts of the earth; thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Who is as great and glorious as you among the trees of Eden? But you too will be brought down to the earth below to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie there with the heathen, with those killed by the sword. This is what will happen to Pharaoh and all his many people, declares the Lord God.”