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31 In the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his multitude:

‘Whom are you like in your greatness?
Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon
    with beautiful branches,
and with a forest-like shade,
    of high stature;
    and its top was among the thick boughs.
The waters nourished it.
    The deep made it to grow.
Its rivers ran all around its plantation;
    and it sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.
Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field;
    and its boughs were multiplied.
Its branches became long by reason of many waters,
    when it spread them out.
All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs.
    Under its branches, all the animals of the field gave birth to their young.
    All great nations lived under its shadow.
Thus it was beautiful in its greatness,
    in the length of its branches;
    for its root was by many waters.
The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it.
    The cypress trees were not like its boughs.
The pine trees were not as its branches;
    nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.
I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches,
    so that all the trees of Eden,
    that were in the garden of God, envied it.’

10 “Therefore thus said the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because you are exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; 11 I will even deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He will surely deal with him. I have driven him out for his wickedness. 12 Strangers, the tyrants of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him. His branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land. All the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow, and have left him. 13 All the birds of the sky will dwell on his ruin, and all the animals of the field will be on his branches; 14 to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, and don’t set their top among the thick boughs. Their mighty ones don’t stand up on their height, even all who drink water; for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, among the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.’

15 “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘In the day when he went down to Sheol[a] I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers. The great waters were stopped. I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. 16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol[b] with those who descend into the pit. All the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth. 17 They also went down into Sheol with him to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were his arm, who lived under his shadow in the middle of the nations.

18 “‘To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth. You will lie in the middle of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.

“‘This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”

Footnotes

  1. 31:15 Sheol is the place of the dead.
  2. 31:16 Sheol is the place of the dead.

Downfall of Egypt and Assyria

31 In the eleventh year,(A) in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes,

‘Who are you like in your greatness?
Think of Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon,(B)
with beautiful branches and shady foliage
and of lofty height.
Its top was among the clouds.[a]
The waters caused it to grow;
the underground springs made it tall,
directing their rivers all around
the place where the tree was planted
and sending their channels
to all the trees of the field.
Therefore the cedar became greater in height
than all the trees of the field.(C)
Its branches multiplied,
and its boughs grew long
as it spread them out
because of the abundant water.(D)
All the birds of the sky
nested in its branches,(E)
and all the animals of the field
gave birth beneath its boughs;
all the great nations lived in its shade.
It was beautiful in its size,
in the length of its limbs,
for its roots extended to abundant water.
The cedars in God’s garden could not eclipse it;(F)
the pine trees couldn’t compare with its branches,
nor could the plane trees match its boughs.
No tree in the garden of God
could compare with it in beauty.

I made it beautiful with its many limbs,
and all the trees of Eden,
which were in God’s garden, envied it.

10 “‘Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: Since it[b] towered high in stature and set its top among the clouds, and it[c] grew proud(G) on account of its height, 11 I determined to hand it over to a ruler of nations;(H) he would surely deal with it. I banished it because of its wickedness. 12 Foreigners, ruthless men from the nations,(I) cut it down and left it lying. Its limbs fell on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. All the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it. 13 All the birds of the sky nested on its fallen trunk, and all the animals of the field were among its boughs. 14 This happened so that no trees planted beside water would become great in height and set their tops among the clouds, and so that no other well-watered trees would reach them in height. For they have all been consigned to death, to the underworld, among the people[d] who descend to the Pit.(J)

15 “‘This is what the Lord God says: I caused grieving on the day the cedar went down to Sheol.(K) I closed off the underground deep because of it:[e] I held back the rivers of the deep, and its abundant water was restrained. I made Lebanon mourn on account of it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. 16 I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I threw it down to Sheol to be with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden,(L) the choice and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were comforted(M) in the underworld. 17 They too descended with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword. As its allies[f][g] they had lived in its shade among the nations.

18 “‘Who then are you like in glory and greatness among Eden’s trees? You also will be brought down to the underworld to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword.(N) This is Pharaoh and all his hordes. This is the declaration of the Lord God.’”

Footnotes

  1. 31:3 Or thick foliage, also in vv. 10,14
  2. 31:10 Syr, Vg; MT, LXX read you
  3. 31:10 Lit its heart
  4. 31:14 Or the descendants of Adam
  5. 31:15 Or I covered it with the underground deep
  6. 31:17 LXX, Syr read offspring
  7. 31:17 Lit arm