Ezekiel 31:17

17 They also went down with it to Sheol to {those who died by the sword}, and its army [who] [had] lived in its shadow in the midst of nations.

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 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "On the day of its going down [to] Sheol, I caused mourning; I covered over it [with] the deep, and I withheld its rivers, and many waters were restrained, and I brought gloom over it; Lebanon and all of the trees of the field, they [had] fainted because of it.

16 From the sound of its downfall I caused nations to shake when I made it go down to Sheol, with [the people] going down to [the] grave, and [so] in [the] world below all of the trees of Eden, [the] choice and the best of Lebanon, {all the well-watered trees} were comforted!

17 They also went down with it to Sheol to {those who died by the sword}, and its army [who] [had] lived in its shadow in the midst of nations.

18 {To whom could you be compared, whether in glory or in majesty} among the trees of Eden? And yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to [the] world below; in the midst of [the] uncircumcised you will lie with {those who died by the sword}. That is Pharaoh and {his entire} crowd!" {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "to the slain of [the] sword"