Ezekiel 31:1-9
World English Bible
31 In the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his multitude:
‘Whom are you like in your greatness?
3 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.
4 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.
5 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.
6 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.
7 Thus it was beautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its branches;
for its root was by many waters.
8 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.
9 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.’
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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