Ezekiel 31:2

2 "Son of man, say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his crowd, 'To whom are you like in your greatness?

Ezekiel 31:2 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 31:2

Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt
To Pharaohhophra, the then reigning king; not to him personally by word of mouth, for the prophet was now in Chaldea; but by delivering out a prophecy concerning him, and which he might have an opportunity of sending to him: and to his multitude;
the multitude of his subjects, of which he boasted, and in whom he trusted: whom art thou like in thy greatness?
look over all the records of time, and into all the empires, kingdoms, and states that have been; draw a comparison between thyself and the greatest potentate that ever was; fancy thyself to be equal to him; this will not secure thee from ruin and destruction; for as they have been humbled, and are fallen, so wilt thou be: pitch for instance on the Assyrian monarch, whose empire has been the most ancient, extensive, and flourishing, and yet now crushed; and as thou art like him in greatness, at least thou thinkest so, so thou art in pride, and wilt be in thine end; to assure of which is the drift of the following account of the king of Assyria.

Ezekiel 31:2 In-Context

1 {And then} {in the eleventh} year, in the third [month], on the first [day] of the month, the word of Yahweh {came} to me, {saying},

2 "Son of man, say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his crowd, 'To whom are you like in your greatness?

3 Look! Assyria [was] a cedar in Lebanon, [with] beautiful branches and a forest giving shade, and {very high}, and its treetop [was] between [the] clouds.

4 Waters made it great, the deep made it grow high; its rivers [were] going all around {its planting area}, and its channels it sent [out] to all of the trees of the field.

5 Therefore it became tall, [with] its height more than all of the trees of the field, and its branches became numerous, and its branches became long {from its sending its shoots from abundant water}.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "mortal," or "son of humankind"
• [b] Or "hordes"