Ezekiel 31:3

3 Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest; it towered on high, its top above the thick foliage.

Ezekiel 31:3 in Other Translations

3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.

3 Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches and forest shade, and of towering height, its top among the clouds.

3 You are like mighty Assyria, which was once like a cedar of Lebanon, with beautiful branches that cast deep forest shade and with its top high among the clouds.

3 Look! Assyria was a Big Tree, huge as a Lebanon cedar, beautiful limbs offering cool shade, Skyscraper high, piercing the clouds.

3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a forest-like shade, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.

3 What about Assyria? It was a cedar in Lebanon with fine branches that shaded the forest. It was very tall. Its top was among the clouds.

3 Think of Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches and shady foliage, and of lofty height. Its top was among the clouds.

3 Think about what happened to Assyria. Once it was like a cedar tree in Lebanon. It had beautiful branches that provided shade for the forest. It grew very high. Its top was above all of the leaves.

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 In the eleventh year, in the third month on the first day, the word of the LORD came to me:

2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes: “ ‘Who can be compared with you in majesty?

3 Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest; it towered on high, its top above the thick foliage.

4 The waters nourished it, deep springs made it grow tall; their streams flowed all around its base and sent their channels to all the trees of the field.

5 So it towered higher than all the trees of the field; its boughs increased and its branches grew long, spreading because of abundant waters.

Cross References

• 1. S Jeremiah 50:18
• 2. S 2 Kings 19:23; Habakkuk 2:17; Zechariah 11:1
• 3. Isaiah 10:34; S Ezekiel 19:11