Ezekiel 31:1-7

Pharaoh Warned of Assyria's Fate

1 In the ¹eleventh * year, in the third month, on the first 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 ²hordes, 'Whom * are you like in your greatness?

3 'Behold, Assyria was a ³cedar in Lebanon With beautiful branches and forest shade, And ⁴very high, And its top was among the clouds.

4 'The ⁵waters made it grow, the deep made it high. With its rivers it continually extended all around its planting place, And sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.

5 'Therefore * ⁶its height was loftier than all the trees of the field And its boughs became many and its branches long Because of ⁷many waters as it spread them out.

6 'All the ⁸birds of the heavens nested in its boughs, And under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth, And all great nations lived under its shade.

7 'So it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; For its roots extended to many waters.

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Ezekiel 31:1-7 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 8

1. Jeremiah 52:5, 6; Ezekiel 30:20; Ezekiel 32:1
2. Ezekiel 29:19; Ezekiel 30:10; Nahum 3:9
3. Isaiah 10:33, 34; Ezek 17:3, 4, 22; Ezekiel 31:16; Dan 4:10, 20-23
4. Isaiah 10:33; Ezekiel 31:5, 10
5. Ezekiel 17:5, 8; Revelation 17:1, 15
6. Daniel 4:11
7. Psalms 1:3; Ezekiel 17:5
8. Ezekiel 17:23; Ezekiel 31:13; Daniel 4:12, 21; Matthew 13:32

Footnotes 6

[a]. Lit "high of stature"
[b]. So Gr; M.T. "thick boughs"
[c]. I.e. subterranean waters
[d]. Lit "was going"
[e]. Lit "in its sending forth"
[f]. Lit "root was"