THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL

 

Ezekiel Chapter 31

1 ¶ Then in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his hordes; To whom are you to be compared in your magnificence?

3 Consider Assyria, like a cedar in Lebanon with fine branches, shady foliage, great height; and its top among the clouds.

4 Water nourished it, underground springs made it grow tall with their streams running around the place where it was planted, and sending out their rivulets to all the trees around it.

5 Therefore its height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and its branches were multiplied, and its limbs became long because of the abundant water, when it spread them out.

6 All the birds of heaven made their nests in its boughs, and under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young, and many great nations lived under its shadow.

7 Thus it was grand in its magnificence, in the length of its branches: for its roots had access to abundant water.

8 No cedar in the garden of God could equal it: the pine trees did not have branches like it, and the boughs of the plane trees could not compare with it; nor could any tree in the garden of God match it for beauty.

9 I made it beautiful with its many branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it.

10 ¶ Therefore the Lord GOD says; Because it grew so tall, and held its head among the clouds, and was proud of being so tall;

11 I determined to deliver it into the hand of the mighty one of the nations; he will surely deal with it: I have banished it because of its wickedness.

12 And foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, have cut it down, and have thrown it away: its branches fell on the mountains and in all the valleys, and its boughs lie broken in all the ravines of the land; and all the people of the earth left its shade, and abandoned it.

13 All the birds of the air will nest upon its ruins, and all the beasts of the field will be among its branches:

14 This happened so that none of the trees growing by the water will be proud of their height, or shoot up their top among the clouds, nor will the mightiest of them, though well watered, stand erect: for they are all consigned to death, to the lower parts of the earth, to join others who have gone down to the grave.

15 The Lord GOD says; On the day when it goes down to the grave I will cause grieving: I will shut off its underground streams, and restrain its springs, and its abundant waters will be stopped: and I will cause Lebanon to mourn for it, and all the trees of the field will faint because of it.

16 I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to the grave to join those who descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that were well watered, will console themselves in the lower parts of the earth.

17 They will also go down to the grave with it to those who are slain with the sword; and those who were its allies, who lived under its shadow in the midst of the nations.

18 To which of the trees of Eden are you to be compared in your magnificence? but you will be brought down to the lower parts of the earth with the trees of Eden: you will lie among the uncircumcised among those who are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his hordes, says the Lord GOD.