Ezekiel 31:3-13

3 You are like a cedar in Lebanon, With beautiful, shady branches, A tree so tall it reaches the clouds.

4 There was water to make it grow, And underground rivers to feed it. They watered the place where the tree was growing And sent streams to all the trees of the forest.

5 Because it was well-watered, It grew taller than other trees. Its branches grew thick and long.

6 Every kind of bird built nests in its branches; The wild animals bore their young in its shelter; The nations of the world rested in its shade.

7 How beautiful the tree was - So tall, with such long branches. Its roots reached down to the deep-flowing streams.

8 No cedar in God's garden could compare with it. ¹ No fir tree ever had such branches, And no plane tree such limbs. No tree in God's own garden was so beautiful.

9 I made it beautiful, with spreading branches. It was the envy of every tree in Eden, the garden of God.

10 "Now then, I, the Sovereign Lord, will tell you what is going to happen to that tree that grew until it reached the clouds. As it grew taller it grew proud;

11 so I have rejected it and will let a foreign ruler have it. He will give that tree what it deserves for its wickedness.

12 Ruthless foreigners will cut it down and leave it. Its branches and broken limbs will fall on every mountain and valley in the country. All the nations that have been living in its shade will go away.

13 The birds will come and perch on the fallen tree, and the wild animals will walk over its branches.

Ezekiel 31:3-13 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.

Cross References

• 1. 31.8Genesis 2.9.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Probable text] You are like; [Hebrew] Assyria is.
• [b]. [One ancient translation] clouds; [Hebrew] thick branches.
• [c]. [One ancient translation] clouds; [Hebrew] thick branches.