Ezekiel 31:4

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.

Ezekiel 31:4 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 31:4

The waters made him great
The waters of the river Tigris, near to which stood the city of Nineveh, the metropolis of the Assyrian monarchy; the traffic brought by which river made it rich and great, and the whole empire, and the king of it: the deep set him up on high, with her rivers running round about his
plants;
the vast trade by sea, the profits and commodities of which were conveyed through various rivers, which ran about the provinces of the empire, which were as plants in a field; and by which they were enriched, and the whole empire, and the king of it, were raised to a prodigious pitch of wealth and power: and sent out little rivers to all the trees of the field;
so that the common people, comparable to the trees of the field for their number and usefulness, all received profit and advantage hereby: or else by waters and the deep may be meant the multitude of people, as in ( Revelation 17:15 ) , which increased his kingdom, filled his provinces, supplied his colonies, and enlarged his power and riches. The Targum is,

``by the people he was multiplied; by his auxiliaries he became strong; he subjected kings under his government; and his governors he appointed over all the provinces of the earth.''

Ezekiel 31:4 In-Context

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}.

6 In its branches all the birds of the heaven made their nest, and under its branches all the animals of the field gave birth, and in its shadow all [the] many nations lived.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "base of its tree"; NRSV, "in the place where it was planted"