10 “Therefore this is what the Lord God says: Since it[a] became great in height and set its top among the clouds,[b] and it[c] grew proud(A) on account of its height, 11 I determined to hand it over to a ruler of nations;(B) he would surely deal with it. I banished it because of its wickedness. 12 Foreigners, ruthless men from the nations,(C) 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,[d] 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 who descend to the Pit.(D)

15 “This is what the Lord God says: I caused grieving on the day the cedar went down to Sheol.(E) I closed off the underground deep because of it:[e] I held back the rivers of the deep, and its abundant waters were 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,(F) all the well-watered trees, the choice and best of Lebanon, were comforted(G) 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.(H) This is Pharaoh and all his hordes”—the declaration of the Lord God.

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Footnotes

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

10 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because Egypt[a] became proud and arrogant, and because it set itself so high above the others, with its top reaching to the clouds, 11 I will hand it over to a mighty nation that will destroy it as its wickedness deserves. I have already discarded it. 12 A foreign army—the terror of the nations—has cut it down and left it fallen on the ground. Its branches are scattered across the mountains and valleys and ravines of the land. All those who lived in its shadow have gone away and left it lying there.

13 “The birds roost on its fallen trunk,
    and the wild animals lie among its branches.
14 Let the tree of no other nation
    proudly exult in its own prosperity,
though it be higher than the clouds
    and it be watered from the depths.
For all are doomed to die,
    to go down to the depths of the earth.
They will land in the pit
    along with everyone else on earth.

15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When Assyria went down to the grave,[b] I made the deep springs mourn. I stopped its rivers and dried up its abundant water. I clothed Lebanon in black and caused the trees of the field to wilt. 16 I made the nations shake with fear at the sound of its fall, for I sent it down to the grave with all the others who descend to the pit. And all the other proud trees of Eden, the most beautiful and the best of Lebanon, the ones whose roots went deep into the water, took comfort to find it there with them in the depths of the earth. 17 Its allies, too, were all destroyed and had passed away. They had gone down to the grave—all those nations that had lived in its shade.

18 “O Egypt, to which of the trees of Eden will you compare your strength and glory? You, too, will be brought down to the depths with all these other nations. You will lie there among the outcasts[c] who have died by the sword. This will be the fate of Pharaoh and all his hordes. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

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Footnotes

  1. 31:10 Hebrew you.
  2. 31:15 Hebrew to Sheol; also in 31:16, 17.
  3. 31:18 Hebrew among the uncircumcised.