Ezekiel 31:15

15 "Here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'On the day he descended to Sh'ol, I caused the abyss to mourn and cover itself for him; I held back its rivers, so that its deep waters were stopped. I made the L'vanon mourn for him, and all the field trees withered because of him.

Ezekiel 31:15 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 31:15

Thus saith the Lord God, in the day when he went down to the
grave
The Assyrian monarch; when his monarchy was destroyed, and he ceased to be king, and was stripped of all his majesty, power, and authority, and was as one dead, and laid in the grave, and buried: I caused a mourning:
that is, for him, in the waters, and among the trees, among the people and the kings of the earth, as follows: I covered the deep for him;
with mourning, with thick darkness, which set him up on high ( Ezekiel 31:4 ) : and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed;
which made him great, ( Ezekiel 31:4 ) , signifying by all this that the kingdoms of the world, comparable to the sea, of which his monarchy consisted, and all the inhabitants and people of them, comparable to floods and great waters, were affected with the fall of this great monarch, and thrown into consternation by it; not knowing what the event of things would be, stood still, and knew not what course to take; all business was stopped, especially all traffic by sea, and all trade and commerce every where; a stagnation of everything for a while: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him;
where he was a cedar, ( Ezekiel 31:3 ) , this may respect the whole empire he was head of, particularly the kingdom of Syria, on the borders of which Lebanon was; and was a part of the Assyrian empire, which must mourn and be concerned at the fall of it: and all the trees of the field fainted for him:
all the kings of the earth that were in alliance with him, or subject to him, trembled for fear that their destruction would be next; or as doubtful and concerned what would be their condition, under the yoke of another. The Targum is,

``tribulation covered the world, and the provinces were forsaken, and many people trembled, and all the kings of the people smote the shoulder because of him.''

Ezekiel 31:15 In-Context

13 All the birds will settle on his fallen trunk, and all the wild animals will be on his branches.

14 This is to warn all the trees growing near water not to grow so tall, not to lift their crowns above the leafy boughs, and all that take up water not to reach up in their height. For they are all given over to death, to the depths of the underworld, along with human beings, with those who descend to the pit.'

15 "Here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'On the day he descended to Sh'ol, I caused the abyss to mourn and cover itself for him; I held back its rivers, so that its deep waters were stopped. I made the L'vanon mourn for him, and all the field trees withered because of him.

16 At the sound of his fall I made the nations shake, when I hurled him down to Sh'ol with those who descend to the pit. All the trees of 'Eden, the pick of the best in the L'vanon, all that take up water, were consoled in the underworld.

17 They descended with him to Sh'ol to those who were killed by the sword, to those who were his fighting arm, those among the nations who lived in his shade.