< Ezekiel 31 >

1 And it comes to pass, in the eleventh year, in the third [month], on the first of the month, a word of YHWH has been to 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 to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: To whom have you been like in your greatness?
“Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his many people: Who is as great as you?
3 Behold, Asshur, a cedar in Lebanon, Beautiful in branch, and shading bough, and high in stature, And its foliage has been between thickets.
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 Waters have made it great, The deep has exalted him with its flowings, Going around its planting, And it has sent forth its conduits to all 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 stature has been higher than all trees of the field, And his boughs are multiplied, and his branches are long, Because of many waters in his shooting 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 Every bird of the heavens has made a nest in his boughs, And every beast of the field has brought forth under his branches, And all great nations dwell in his shade.
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 And he is beautiful in his greatness, In the length of his thin shoots, For his root has been by great waters.
It was beautiful and majestic with its long branches, because its roots reached down to the plentiful water.
8 Cedars have not hid him in the garden of God, Firs have not been like to his boughs, And plane-trees have not been as his branches, No tree in the garden of God has been like to 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 have made him beautiful in the multitude of his thin shoots, And all trees of Eden that [are] in the garden of God envy him.
I made it beautiful with its many branches. All the trees of Eden in God's garden envied it.
10 Therefore, thus said Lord YHWH: Because that you have been high in stature, And he yields his foliage between thickets, And his heart is high in his haughtiness,
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 give him into the hand of a god of nations, He deals severely with him, In his wickedness I have cast him out.
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 cut him off, The terrible of nations, and they leave him, His thin shoots have fallen on the mountains and in all valleys, And his boughs are broken at all streams of the land, And all peoples of the land go down from his shade, and they leave 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 Every bird of the heavens dwells on his ruin, And all beasts of the field have been on his boughs,
Birds came to live on its fallen trunk, and wild animals hid among its fallen branches.
14 In order that none of the trees of the waters May become haughty because of their stature, Nor give their foliage between thickets, Nor any drinking waters stand up to them in their haughtiness, For all of them are given up to death, To the lower earth, In the midst of the sons of men, To those going 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 said Lord YHWH: I have caused mourning in the day of his going down to Sheol, I have covered the deep over him, and diminish its flowings, And many waters are restrained, And I make Lebanon black for him, And all trees of the field [have been] a covering 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 have caused nations to shake at the sound of his fall, In My causing him to go down to Sheol, With those going down to the pit, And all trees of Eden are comforted in the lower earth, The choice and good of Lebanon—All drinking waters. (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 Those with him have also gone down to Sheol, To the pierced of the sword, And—his arm—they dwelt in his shade in the midst of 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 have you been thus like, In glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? And you have been brought down with the trees of Eden, To the lower earth, You lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, With the pierced of the sword. This [is] Pharaoh, and all his multitude, A declaration of Lord YHWH!”
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.”

< Ezekiel 31 >