Ezekiel 31:3

3 Lo! Assur as a cedar in Lebanon, fair in branches, and full of boughs, and high by highness; and his height was raised [up] among thick boughs. (Lo! Assyria was like a cedar in Lebanon, that was beautiful in branches, and full of boughs, and high by highness; and its height was raised up among the thick boughs.)

Ezekiel 31:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 31:3

Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon
Here grew the tallest, most stately, broad and flourishing ones. This sense is, that he was as one of them; comparable to one, for his exaltation and dignity; for the largeness of his dominion, the flourishing circumstances of it, and its long duration; that empire having lasted from the times of Nimrod unto a few years of the present time; for this is to be understood, either of the monarchy itself, or of Esarhaddon; or rather of Chynilidanus, or Saracus, the last king of it. The Septuagint, and Arabic versions render it the "cypariss" in Lebanon; but not that, but the cedar, grew there, and which best suits the comparison: with fair branches;
meaning not children, nor nobles, nor subjects; but provinces, many and large, which were subject to this monarch: and with a shadowing shroud;
power, dominion, authority, a mighty army sufficient to protect all that were under his government, and subject to it: and of an high stature:
exalted above all the kings and kingdoms of the earth: and his top was among the thick boughs;
his kingly power, headship, and dominion, was over a multitude of petty princes and states, comparable to the thick boughs and branches of a tree: or, "among the clouds"; as the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it; above the heights of which the Assyrian monarch attempted to ascend, ( Isaiah 14:14 ) ( Daniel 4:10-12 ) .

Ezekiel 31:3 In-Context

1 And it was done in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month (on the first day of the month), the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to his people, To whom art thou made like in thy greatness?

3 Lo! Assur as a cedar in Lebanon, fair in branches, and full of boughs, and high by highness; and his height was raised [up] among thick boughs. (Lo! Assyria was like a cedar in Lebanon, that was beautiful in branches, and full of boughs, and high by highness; and its height was raised up among the thick boughs.)

4 Waters nourished him, the depth of waters enhanced him; his floods floated out in the compass of his roots, and he sent out his strands to all the trees of the country. (Waters nourished it, the waters from the depths raised it up, or made it grow; its rivers flowed out all around its roots, and it sent out its streams to all the trees in the country.)

5 Therefore his highness was enhanced over all [the] trees of the country, and his trees were multiplied, and his branches were raised [up], for many waters. And when he had stretched forth his shadow, (And so its highness was lifted up over all the trees of the country, and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches were raised up, because of the abundant waters. And when it had stretched forth its shadow,)