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Ezekiel 31
Living Bible
Ezekiel 31
Living Bible
31 In mid-May of the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity,[a] this message came to me from the Lord:
2-3 “Son of dust, tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all his people: ‘You are as Assyria was—a great and mighty nation—like a cedar of Lebanon, full of thick branches and forest shade, with its head high up among the clouds. 4 Its roots went deep into the moist earth. It grew luxuriantly and gave streamlets of water to all the trees around. 5 It towered above all the other trees. It prospered and grew long thick branches because of all the water at its roots. 6 The birds nested in its branches, and in its shade the flocks and herds gave birth to young. All the great nations of the world lived beneath its shadow. 7 It was strong and beautiful, for its roots went deep to water. 8 This tree was taller than any other in the garden of God; no cypress had branches equal to it; none had boughs to compare; none equaled it in beauty. 9 Because of the magnificence that I gave it, it was the envy of all the other trees of Eden.’
10 “But Egypt[b] has become proud and arrogant,” the Lord God says. “Therefore because she has set herself so high above the others, reaching to the clouds, 11 I will deliver her into the hands of a mighty nation, to destroy her as her wickedness deserves. I, myself, will cut her down. 12 A foreign army (from Babylon)—the terror of the nations—will invade her land and cut her down and leave her fallen on the ground. Her branches will be scattered across the mountains and valleys and rivers of the land. All those who live beneath her shade will go away and leave her lying there. 13 The birds will pluck off her twigs, and the wild animals will lie among her branches; 14 let no other nation exult with pride for its own prosperity, though it be higher than the clouds, for all are doomed, and they will land in hell along with all the proud men of the world.”
15 The Lord God says: “When she fell, I made the oceans mourn for her and restrained their tides.[c] I clothed Lebanon in black and caused the trees of Lebanon to weep. 16 I made the nations shake with fear at the sound of her fall, for I threw her down to hell with all the others like her. And all the other proud trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, the ones whose roots went deep into the water, are comforted to find her there with them in hell. 17 Her allies, too, are all destroyed and perish with her. They went down with her to the netherworld—those nations that had lived beneath her shade.
18 “O Egypt, you are great and glorious among the trees of Eden—the nations of the world. And you will be brought down to the pit of hell with all these other nations. You will be among the nations you despise, killed by the sword. This is the fate of Pharaoh and all his teeming masses,” says the Lord.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 31:1 the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, implied. It was the year 587 B.C., the year Jerusalem fell.
- Ezekiel 31:10 But Egypt, implied.
- Ezekiel 31:15 restrained their tides, literally, “the great waters were held back.”
Ezekiel 31
New International Version
Ezekiel 31
New International Version
Pharaoh as a Felled Cedar of Lebanon
31 In the eleventh year,(A) in the third month on the first day, the word of the Lord came to me:(B) 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes:
“‘Who can be compared with you in majesty?
3 Consider Assyria,(C) once a cedar in Lebanon,(D)
with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest;
it towered on high,
its top above the thick foliage.(E)
4 The waters(F) 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.(G)
5 So it towered higher(H)
than all the trees of the field;
its boughs increased
and its branches grew long,
spreading because of abundant waters.(I)
6 All the birds of the sky
nested in its boughs,
all the animals of the wild
gave birth(J) under its branches;
all the great nations
lived in its shade.(K)
7 It was majestic in beauty,
with its spreading boughs,
for its roots went down
to abundant waters.(L)
8 The cedars(M) in the garden of God
could not rival it,
nor could the junipers
equal its boughs,
nor could the plane trees(N)
compare with its branches—
no tree in the garden of God
could match its beauty.(O)
9 I made it beautiful
with abundant branches,
the envy of all the trees of Eden(P)
in the garden of God.(Q)
10 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud(R) 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,(S) 12 and the most ruthless of foreign nations(T) cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys;(U) 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.(V) 13 All the birds settled on the fallen tree, and all the wild animals lived among its branches.(W) 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(X) for death,(Y) for the earth below, among mortals who go down to the realm of the dead.(Z)
15 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day it was brought down to the realm of the dead I covered the deep springs with mourning for it; I held back its streams, and its abundant waters were restrained. Because of it I clothed Lebanon with gloom, and all the trees of the field withered away.(AA) 16 I made the nations tremble(AB) at the sound of its fall when I brought it down to the realm of the dead to be with those who go down to the pit. Then all the trees(AC) of Eden,(AD) the choicest and best of Lebanon, the well-watered trees, were consoled(AE) in the earth below.(AF) 17 They too, like the great cedar, had gone down to the realm of the dead, to those killed by the sword,(AG) along with the armed men who lived in its shade among the nations.
18 “‘Which of the trees of Eden can be compared with you in splendor and majesty? Yet you, too, will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below; you will lie among the uncircumcised,(AH) with those killed by the sword.
“‘This is Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Ezekiel 31
King James Version
Ezekiel 31
King James Version
31 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?
3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.
5 Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.
6 All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.
9 I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
10 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.
12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
13 Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:
14 To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.
15 Thus saith the Lord God; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.
16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
17 They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
18 To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.
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New International Version (NIV) 
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