Ezekiel 31:1-9
New Century Version
A Cedar Tree
31 It was in the eleventh year of our captivity, in the third month, on the first day of the month. The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: 2 “Human, say to the king of Egypt and his people:
‘No one is like you in your greatness.
3 Assyria was once like a cedar tree in Lebanon
with beautiful branches that shaded the forest.
It was very tall;
its top was among the clouds.
4 Much water made the tree grow;
the deep springs made it tall.
Rivers flowed
around the bottom of the tree
and sent their streams
to all other trees in the countryside.
5 So the tree was taller
than all the other trees in the countryside.
Its limbs became long and big
because of so much water.
6 All the birds of the sky
made their nests in the tree’s limbs.
And all the wild animals
gave birth under its branches.
All great nations
lived in the tree’s shade.
7 So the tree was great and beautiful,
with its long branches,
because its roots reached down to much water.
8 The cedar trees in the garden of God
were not as great as it was.
The pine trees
did not have such great limbs.
The plane trees
did not have such branches.
No tree in the garden of God
was as beautiful as this tree.
9 I made it beautiful
with many branches,
and all the trees of Eden in the garden of God
wanted to be like it.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.