Ezekiel 31:13

13 All the volatiles of the air dwelled in the falling of him, and all beasts of the country were in the branches of him. (All the birds of the air lived on that fallen tree, and all the beasts of the field walked all over its branches.)

Ezekiel 31:13 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 31:13

Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain
Or, "on his fall" ^F19; the fall of this tree: and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches as when a tree is cut down, and its lopped off branches and boughs lie here and there, either the birds and beasts that before dwelt in it or under it, though for a while frightened away, return unto it; or others come: the birds come and sit upon the boughs, and pick up what they can find on them; and the beasts browse upon the branches: this may signify that even those people who before put themselves under the protection of this monarch, or sought alliance with him, now preyed upon his dominions; or the Medes and Babylonians, the conquerors, seized on the provinces of the empire, and plundered them of their riches, The Targum understands it literally of the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, feeding upon the carcasses of the slain; which is no bad sense of the passage; thus,

``upon the fall of his slain all the fowls of heaven have dwelt, and upon the carcasses of his army all the beasts of the field have rested.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (wtlpm le) "super prolapse ejus", Cocceius; "super cadivum truncum ejus", Junius & Tremellius.

Ezekiel 31:13 In-Context

11 now I have given him into the hands of the strongest man of heathen men. And he doing shall do to that Assur; after the unfaithfulness of him I casted him out. (so now I have given it into the hands of the strongest man of the heathen. And he doing shall do to that Assyria; yea, because of its unfaithfulness, I have cast it out.)

12 And aliens, and the most cruel men of nations, shall cut him down, and shall cast him forth on hills. And his branches shall fall down in all the great valleys, and his trees shall be broken in all rocks of stone of (the) earth. And all the peoples of earth shall go away from his shadowing place, and shall forsake him. (And foreigners, and the most cruel men of the nations, have cut it down, and have thrown it forth upon the hills. And its branches have fallen down in all the great valleys, and its boughs were broken by all the hard rocks of the earth. And all the peoples of the earth went away from under its shadow, and deserted it.)

13 All the volatiles of the air dwelled in the falling of him, and all beasts of the country were in the branches of him. (All the birds of the air lived on that fallen tree, and all the beasts of the field walked all over its branches.)

14 Wherefore all the trees of waters shall not be raised [up] in their highness, neither shall set their highness among places full of wood(s), and full of boughs, and all trees that be moisted of waters shall not stand in the highness of those. For all they be given into death, to the farthest land in the midst of the sons of men, to them that go down into the pit. (And so all the trees by the waters shall not be raised up in their highness, nor shall set their highness in places full of woods, and full of branches, and all the trees that be watered by these waters shall not stand in their highness. For they all be given over unto death, yea, to the farthest, or to the last, land in the midst of those, who go down into the pit.)

15 The Lord God saith these things, In the day when he went down to hells, I brought in mourning; I covered him with depth of waters, and I forbade his floods, and I refrained many waters. The Lebanon was sorry on him, and all the trees of the field were shaken of the sound of his falling. (The Lord God saith these things, On the day when it went down to Sheol, I brought in mourning; I covered it with the depths of waters, and I forbade its rivers, and I restrained the great waters. Lebanon sorrowed for it, and all the trees of the field were shaken by the sound of its falling.)