Ezekiel 31:17

17 They also went down into Sheol with him, with those that were slain with the sword; and those that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the Gentiles.

Ezekiel 31:17 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 31:17

They also went down to hell with him
To the grave with him; many of his nobles, princes, generals, soldiers, and subjects: unto them that be slain with the sword;
to be buried and lie with them who had fallen by the sword, as a just punishment for their iniquities: and they that were his arm;
either that leaned on his arm, were dependents upon him; or his ministers, his instruments, whom he employed under him as his deputies, to govern the several provinces that belonged to him; or rather his allies and auxiliaries, who helped and assisted him on occasion: that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the Heathen;
in the midst of the nations subject to the Assyrian empire; such who put themselves under the protection of it, lived comfortably under it, and continued with it to the last; these shared the same fate as that did. The Targum is,

``his governors are broken, whom he strengthened in the midst of the kingdom.''

Ezekiel 31:17 In-Context

15 Thus said the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the many waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted.

16 I made the Gentiles to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with those that descend into the pit: and all the choice trees of Eden, and the best of Lebanon, all that drink waters, shall be comforted in the lower parts of the earth.

17 They also went down into Sheol with him, with those that were slain with the sword; and those that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the Gentiles.

18 To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet thou shalt be cut down with the trees of Eden unto the lower parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those that are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his people, said the Lord GOD.