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
Common English Bible
Egypt is not Assyria
31 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, the Lord’s word came to me: 2 Human one, say to Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, and his troops:
With whom do you compare in your greatness?
3 Consider Assyria, a cedar of Lebanon:
beautiful branches, dense shade, towering height;
indeed, its top went up between the clouds.
4 Waters nourished it; the deep raised it up,
because its streams flowed around the place where it was planted.
From there, water trickled down to all the other trees of the field.
5 And so it became higher than all the trees of the field.
Its branches became abundant; its boughs grew long.
Because of the plentiful water, it grew freely.
6 All the birds in the sky made nests in its branches;
all the beasts of the field gave birth under its boughs,
and in its shade, every great nation lived.
7 It became beautiful in its greatness and in its lush foliage,
because it took root in plentiful water.
8 No cedar was its equal in God’s garden.
The fir trees didn’t have anything like its branches,
and the plane trees had nothing like its boughs.
None of the trees in God’s garden could compare to it in its beauty.
9 As for its beauty—I made it so, with its abundant foliage.
All the trees of Eden envied it,
all that were in God’s garden.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible