Ezekiel 31:12

12 Foreigners, ruthless men from the nations,^[a] 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.

Ezekiel 31:12 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 31:12

And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off,
&c.] Cut off the boughs and branches of this cedar, and cut him down to the ground; that is, utterly destroyed him, his empire and monarchy: these "strangers" were the Medes, who lived in a country distant from Assyria; and "the terrible of the nations", the cruel and merciless Chaldeans, the soldiers of the king of Babylon's army; see ( Ezekiel 30:11 ) : and have left him upon the mountains,
like a tree cut down there, and its boughs and branches lopped off, which roll down from thence into the valleys, and by the rivers of water signifying his depression from a high and exalted state to a very low one, as follows: and in all the valley his branches are fallen, and his boughs are
broken by all the rivers of the land;
signifying that many provinces and countries under his dominion were broken off, and by force taken away from him; or they broke off and revolted of themselves, and either set up for themselves, and recovered their former power and authority; or gave up themselves to the conqueror. The Targum is,

``and in all valleys his army fell, and his auxiliaries were scattered by all the rivers of the land:''

and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have
left him:
those that joined themselves to his empire, put themselves under his protection, or sought his friendship and alliance, now withdrew themselves from him, and left him alone to shift for himself; as frightened birds and beasts will do, when a tree is cut down and fallen, in the boughs or under the shadow of which they dwelt. The Targum paraphrases it,

``from the shadow of his kingdom.''

Ezekiel 31:12 In-Context

10 "Therefore this is what the Lord God says: Since it became great in height and set its top among the clouds, and it grew proud on account of its height,

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.

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.

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

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 who descend to the Pit.

Footnotes

• [a]. Ezk 28:7; 32:12