Ezekiel 31:6-16

6 All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young; and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.

7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches, for his root was by great waters.

8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him; the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches, nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.

9 I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches, so that all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied him.

10 "`Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height,

11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen. He shall surely deal with him. I have driven him out for his wickedness.

12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off and have left him. Upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow and have left him.

13 Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches,

14 to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height--all that drink water. For they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

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

16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

Ezekiel 31:6-16 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.