Ezekiel 31:13

13 On its trunk roost all the birds in the sky, and on its boughs lie all the beasts of the field.

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 So I handed it over to the most powerful nation, who continually acted treacherously against it. I banished it!

12 Foreigners, the worst of the nations, cut it down and left it to lie among the hills. All its branches fell among the valleys, and its boughs were broken off in the earth's deep ravines. All the earth's peoples departed from its shade and abandoned it.

13 On its trunk roost all the birds in the sky, and on its boughs lie all the beasts of the field.

14 All this has happened so that no other well-watered tree would tower high or allow its branches to reach among the clouds. Nor would their leaders achieve the towering stature of such well-watered trees. Certainly, all of them are consigned to death, to the world below, among human beings who go down to the pit.

15 The LORD God proclaims: On the day that it went down to the underworld, I caused mourning. I blocked off the deep sea against it. I dried up its rivers and restrained the mighty waters. I made Lebanon go into mourning for it, and all the trees of the field languished on its account.