Ezekiel 31 :: Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

Downfall of Egypt and Assyria

(cf. Eze 17:22–24 )

Eze 31:1

In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:

Eze 31:2

“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes,

‘Who are you like in your greatness?

Eze 31:3

“Think of Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon,

with beautiful branches and shady foliage

and of lofty height.

Its top was among the clouds.[fn]

Eze 31:4

“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.

Eze 31:5

“Therefore the cedar became greater in height

than all the trees of the field.

Its branches multiplied,

and its boughs grew long

as it spread them out

because of the abundant water.

Eze 31:6

“All the birds of the sky

nested in its branches,

and all the animals of the field

gave birth beneath its boughs;

all the great nations lived in its shade.

Eze 31:7

“It was beautiful in its size,

in the length of its limbs,

for its roots extended to abundant water.

Eze 31:8

“The cedars in God’s garden could not eclipse it;

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.

Eze 31:9

“I made it beautiful with its many limbs,

and all the trees of Eden,

which were in God’s garden, envied it.

Eze 31:10

“ ‘Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: Since it[fn] towered high in stature and set its top among the clouds, and it[fn] grew proud on account of its height,

Eze 31:11

“I determined to hand it over to a ruler of nations; he would surely deal with it. I banished it because of its wickedness.

Eze 31:12

“Foreigners, ruthless men from the nations, 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.

Eze 31:13

“All the birds of the sky nested on its fallen trunk, and all the animals of the field were among its boughs.

Eze 31:14

“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[fn] who descend to the Pit.

Eze 31:15

“ ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I caused grieving on the day the cedar went down to Sheol. I closed off the underground deep because of it:[fn] 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.

Eze 31:16

“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, the choice and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were comforted in the underworld.

Eze 31:17

“They too descended with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword. As its allies[fn][fn] they had lived in its shade among the nations.

Eze 31:18

“ ‘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. This is Pharaoh and all his hordes. This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.’ ”