Ezekiel 31:1-9
New Living Translation
Egypt Compared to Fallen Assyria
31 On June 21,[a] during the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of man, give this message to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all his hordes:
“To whom would you compare your greatness?
3 You are like mighty Assyria,
which was once like a cedar of Lebanon,
with beautiful branches that cast deep forest shade
and with its top high among the clouds.
4 Deep springs watered it
and helped it to grow tall and luxuriant.
The water flowed around it like a river,
streaming to all the trees nearby.
5 This great tree towered high,
higher than all the other trees around it.
It prospered and grew long thick branches
because of all the water at its roots.
6 The birds nested in its branches,
and in its shade all the wild animals gave birth.
All the great nations of the world
lived in its shadow.
7 It was strong and beautiful,
with wide-spreading branches,
for its roots went deep
into abundant water.
8 No other cedar in the garden of God
could rival it.
No cypress had branches to equal it;
no plane tree had boughs to compare.
No tree in the garden of God
came close to it in beauty.
9 Because I made this tree so beautiful,
and gave it such magnificent foliage,
it was the envy of all the other trees of Eden,
the garden of God.
Ezekiel 31:1-9
International Standard Version
Egypt Learns from Assyria’s Demise
31 On the first day of the third month of the eleventh year of our captivity,[a] this message came to me from the Lord: 2 “Son of Man, tell this to Pharaoh, king of Egypt and his gangs:
‘Who do you think you are?
What makes you so great?
3 Think about Assyria,[b]
that cedar of Lebanon,
beautiful with its branches,
like a shady forest,
with an awesome height,
its summit touches the clouds.
4 Abundant water made it great,
Subterranean rivers made it grow.
Rivers surrounded the area where it had been planted,
and water channels nourished all the trees in the fields.
5 That’s why it grew taller than any of the trees in the fields.
Its boughs flourished.
Its branches grew luxurious
because all the water made it spread out well.
6 The birds in the sky made nests in its boughs;
all the beasts of the field gave birth under its branches.
All the great nations rested in its shade.
7 ‘Beautiful because it was so great,
with its long branches,
it was rooted in many bodies of water.[c]
8 The cedars in God’s garden could not compare to it;
Fir trees could not match its boughs.
The plane tree[d] never grew branches like it,
and no tree in God’s garden compares to its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful,
including all of its branches;
all the trees in God’s garden of Eden envied it!’”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 31:1 The Heb. lacks of our captivity
- Ezekiel 31:3 Lit. Asshur
- Ezekiel 31:7 Lit. many waters
- Ezekiel 31:8 I.e., a species of trees that could readily be stripped of their bark; cf. Gen 30:37
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