Ezekiel 31:3-14

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.

6 All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs, all the animals of the wild gave birth under its branches; all the great nations lived in its shade.

7 It was majestic in beauty, with its spreading boughs, for its roots went down to abundant waters.

8 The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor could the junipers equal its boughs, nor could the plane trees compare with its branches— no tree in the garden of God could match its beauty.

9 I made it beautiful with abundant branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden in the garden of God.

10 “ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height,

11 I gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside,

12 and the most ruthless of foreign nations cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys; its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it.

13 All the birds settled on the fallen tree, and all the wild animals lived among its branches.

14 Therefore no other trees by the waters are ever to tower proudly on high, lifting their tops above the thick foliage. No other trees so well-watered are ever to reach such a height; they are all destined for death, for the earth below, among mortals who go down to the realm of the dead.

Ezekiel 31:3-14 Meaning and Commentary

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.

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
• 4. Ezekiel 17:7
• 5. Daniel 4:10
• 6. ver 10
• 7. S Numbers 24:6; S Ezekiel 17:5
• 8. S Genesis 31:7-9
• 9. S Ezekiel 17:23; S Matthew 13:32
• 10. S Job 14:9
• 11. Psalms 80:10
• 12. S Genesis 30:37
• 13. Genesis 2:8-9
• 14. S Genesis 2:8
• 15. S Genesis 13:10; Ezekiel 28:13
• 16. S Isaiah 2:11; S Isaiah 14:13-14; S Ezekiel 28:17
• 17. Daniel 5:20
• 18. S Ezekiel 28:7
• 19. Ezekiel 32:5; Ezekiel 35:8
• 20. Ezekiel 32:11-12; Daniel 4:14
• 21. S Isaiah 18:6; S Ezekiel 29:5; Ezekiel 32:4
• 22. S Psalms 49:14
• 23. S Psalms 82:7
• 24. S Numbers 14:11; Psalms 63:9; S Ezekiel 26:20; Ezekiel 32:24