Ezekiel 31:17

17 These trees had also gone down with the great tree to the place of the dead. They joined those who were killed in war and those among the nations who had lived under the great tree's shade.

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 "'This is what the Lord God says: On the day when the tree went down to the place of the dead, I made the deep springs cry loudly. I covered them and held back their rivers, and the great waters stopped flowing. I dressed Lebanon in black to show her sadness about the great tree, and all the trees in the countryside were sad about it.

16 I made the nations shake with fear at the sound of the tree falling when I brought it down to the place of the dead. It went to join those who have gone down to the grave. Then all the trees of Eden and the best trees of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were comforted in the place of the dead below the earth.

17 These trees had also gone down with the great tree to the place of the dead. They joined those who were killed in war and those among the nations who had lived under the great tree's shade.

18 "'So no tree in Eden is equal to you, Egypt, in greatness and honor, but you will go down to join the trees of Eden in the place below the earth. You will lie among unclean people, with those who were killed in war. "'This is about the king of Egypt and all his people, says the Lord God.'"