Ezekiel 31

Pharaoh Is Warned Through Assyria’s Destruction

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}.

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.

7 And it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root [was] toward much water.

8 Cedars in the garden of God could not [be] equal to it; fir trees could not resemble its branches, and plane trees were not [even] like its branches; any tree [even] in the garden of God could not resemble it in its beauty.

9 I made it beautiful with the abundance of its branches, and all of the trees of Eden that [were] in the garden of God envied it.'"

10 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "{Because} it was tall in height and it set its treetop between thick clouds, and {he took pride in his tallness},

11 then I gave it into [the] hand of [the] leader of nations; he {dealt thoroughly} with it according to its wickedness. I drove it [out].

12 And strangers cut it off, [the most] ruthless of nations, and they abandoned it. On the mountains and in all [of the] valleys its branches fell, and its branches were broken in all the river channels of the land, and all the peoples of the world went out from its shadow, and they abandoned it.

13 On its fallen trunk all the birds of the heaven [now] dwell, and all the animals of the field were on its branches.

14 [This occurred] so that all of [the] trees [with abundant] water will not become tall, and they will not set their treetop between [their] thick foliage, and [so that]{all of the trees that are abundantly watered} {will not stand up to them} in their tallness, for all of them, they have been given [over] to death, to [the] world below in the midst of {mortals}, to [the people] going down to the grave."

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.

Ezekiel 31 Commentary

Chapter 31

The glory of Assyria. (1-9) Its fall, and the like for Egypt. (10-18)

Verses 1-9 The falls of others, both into sin and ruin, warn us not to be secure or high-minded. The prophet is to show an instance of one whom the king of Egypt resembled in greatness, the Assyrian, compared to a stately cedar. Those who excel others, make themselves the objects of envy; but the blessings of the heavenly paradise are not liable to such alloy. The utmost security that any creature can give, is but like the shadow of a tree, a scanty and slender protection. But let us flee to God for protection, there we shall be safe. His hand must be owned in the rising of the great men of the earth, and we must not envy them. Though worldly people may seem to have firm prosperity, yet it only seems so.

Verses 10-18 The king of Egypt resembled the king of Assyria in his greatness: here we see he resembles him in his pride. And he shall resemble him in his fall. His own sin brings his ruin. None of our comforts are ever lost, but what have been a thousand times forfeited. When great men fall, many fall with them, as many have fallen before them. The fall of proud men is for warning to others, to keep them humble. See how low Pharaoh lies; and see what all his pomp and pride are come to. It is best to be a lowly tree of righteousness, yielding fruit to the glory of God, and to the good of men. The wicked man is often seen flourishing like the cedar, and spreading like the green bay tree, but he soon passes away, and his place is no more found. Let us then mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "and it happened/it was"
• [b]. Literally "on one ten"
• [c]. Literally "was"
• [d]. Literally "to say"
• [e]. Or "mortal," or "son of humankind"
• [f]. Or "hordes"
• [g]. Hebrew "branch"
• [h]. Literally "high of height"
• [i]. Literally "base of its tree"; NRSV, "in the place where it was planted"
• [j]. Literally "from water much at sending [shoots] its"
• [k]. Hebrew "bird"
• [l]. Or "sky"
• [m]. Hebrew "animal"
• [n]. Or possibly, juniper
• [o]. Literally "because that"
• [p]. Hebrew "to between"
• [q]. Literally "and his heart he raised in his tallness"
• [r]. Or "and"
• [s]. Literally "doing he did"
• [t]. Hebrew "bird"
• [u]. Or "sky"
• [v]. Or "among"
• [w]. Or "clouds"
• [x]. Literally "all of [the] drinkers of water"
• [y]. Literally "will not stand to them"
• [z]. Literally "sons of men," or "children of humankind"
• [aa]. Or "pit"
• [ab]. Or "the pit"
• [ac]. Literally "all [of][the] drinkers of water"
• [ad]. Literally "to the slain of [the] sword"
• [ae]. Literally "To who you are like as in glory and in majesty"
• [af]. Literally "the slain of [the] sword"
• [ag]. Literally "all his hordes/crowd"
• [ah]. Or "hordes"
• [ai]. Literally "declaration of"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 31

This chapter contains a confirmation of the preceding prophecy, of the ruin of the king of Egypt, by the example of the king of Assyria, to whom he was like in grandeur and pride, and would be in his fall. The time of the prophecy is observed, Eze 31:1, the prophet is ordered to give the following relation to the king of Egypt, Eze 31:2 in which the king of Assyria is compared to a large and flourishing cedar, for the extent of his dominions, the prosperous state of his empire, and his exaltation above all other princes, which drew upon him their envy Eze 31:3-9, wherefore because of his pride, his heart being lifted up with these things, Eze 31:10, ruin came upon him; which is described by the instruments and manner of it, and the effects following it; mourning and fear in some, solace and comfort to others, and destruction to his associates, Eze 31:11-17, wherefore Pharaoh is called upon to consider all this, who was like to him in greatness and pride, and should have the like fate with him; nor could his greatness any more secure him than it did the Assyrian monarch, Eze 31:18.