Ezekiel 31:10-18

10 "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because ¹it^[a] towered high and set its top among the clouds, and ²its heart was proud of its height,

11 I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out.

12 ³Foreigners, ⁴the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. ⁵On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all ⁶the ravines of the land, and ⁷all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it.

13 ⁸On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field.

14 ⁹All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds, and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, ¹⁰to the world ¹¹below, among the children of man,^[b] with those who go down to the pit.

15 "Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day ¹²the cedar^[c] went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.

16 ¹³I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, ¹⁴when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. ¹⁵And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, ¹⁶were comforted in the world below.

17 They also went down to Sheol with it, ¹⁷to those who are slain by the sword; yes, ¹⁸those who were its arm, ¹⁹who lived under its shadow among the nations.

18 ²⁰"Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness ²¹among the trees of Eden? ²²You shall be brought down with ²³the trees of Eden to the world below. ²⁴You shall lie among the uncircumcised, ²⁵with those who are slain by the sword. ²⁶"This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD."

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Ezekiel 31:10-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 31

This chapter contains a confirmation of the preceding prophecy, of the ruin of the king of Egypt, by the example of the king of Assyria, to whom he was like in grandeur and pride, and would be in his fall. The time of the prophecy is observed, Eze 31:1, the prophet is ordered to give the following relation to the king of Egypt, Eze 31:2 in which the king of Assyria is compared to a large and flourishing cedar, for the extent of his dominions, the prosperous state of his empire, and his exaltation above all other princes, which drew upon him their envy Eze 31:3-9, wherefore because of his pride, his heart being lifted up with these things, Eze 31:10, ruin came upon him; which is described by the instruments and manner of it, and the effects following it; mourning and fear in some, solace and comfort to others, and destruction to his associates, Eze 31:11-17, wherefore Pharaoh is called upon to consider all this, who was like to him in greatness and pride, and should have the like fate with him; nor could his greatness any more secure him than it did the Assyrian monarch, Eze 31:18.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 26

1. [ver. 3]
2. Daniel 5:20; [Isaiah 10:12]
3. See Ezekiel 28:7
4. See Ezekiel 28:7
5. [Ezekiel 32:5]
6. [Ezekiel 6:3]
7. [Daniel 4:14]
8. Ezekiel 32:4
9. [ver. 5]
10. [ver. 16, 18; Ezekiel 26:20; Ezekiel 32:18, 24]
11. Psalms 63:9
12. [Ezekiel 32:18, 21; Isaiah 14:9, 10]
13. [Ezekiel 26:15]
14. [See ver. 15 above]
15. ver. 9; [Isaiah 14:8]
16. [Ezekiel 32:31]
17. Ezekiel 32:20, 21; Ezekiel 35:8
18. [Ezekiel 30:5, 6, 8]
19. [ver. 6]
20. [ver. 2]
21. [See ver. 16 above]
22. [Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15]
23. [See ver. 16 above]
24. Ezekiel 28:10; Ezekiel 32:19, 21, 24, 25, 28
25. [See ver. 17 above]
26. [ver. 2]

Footnotes 3

[a]. Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew you
[b]. Or of Adam
[c]. Hebrew it

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.