Ezekiel 31:17

17 They descended with him to Sh'ol to those who were killed by the sword, to those who were his fighting arm, those among the nations who lived in his shade.

Ezekiel 31:17 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 31:17

They also went down to hell with him
To the grave with him; many of his nobles, princes, generals, soldiers, and subjects: unto them that be slain with the sword;
to be buried and lie with them who had fallen by the sword, as a just punishment for their iniquities: and they that were his arm;
either that leaned on his arm, were dependents upon him; or his ministers, his instruments, whom he employed under him as his deputies, to govern the several provinces that belonged to him; or rather his allies and auxiliaries, who helped and assisted him on occasion: that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the Heathen;
in the midst of the nations subject to the Assyrian empire; such who put themselves under the protection of it, lived comfortably under it, and continued with it to the last; these shared the same fate as that did. The Targum is,

``his governors are broken, whom he strengthened in the midst of the kingdom.''

Ezekiel 31:17 In-Context

15 "Here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: 'On the day he descended to Sh'ol, I caused the abyss to mourn and cover itself for him; I held back its rivers, so that its deep waters were stopped. I made the L'vanon mourn for him, and all the field trees withered because of him.

16 At the sound of his fall I made the nations shake, when I hurled him down to Sh'ol with those who descend to the pit. All the trees of 'Eden, the pick of the best in the L'vanon, all that take up water, were consoled in the underworld.

17 They descended with him to Sh'ol to those who were killed by the sword, to those who were his fighting arm, those among the nations who lived in his shade.

18 Which of the trees of 'Eden was your equal in glory or size? Yet you will be brought down to the underworld along with the trees of 'Eden. You will lie there among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword. This is Pharaoh and his hordes,' says Adonai ELOHIM."