Ezekiel 31:3-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 Assyria! It is Assyria![a]
A cedar of Lebanon—
Beautiful branches,
thick shade,
Towering heights,
its crown in the clouds!(A)
4 The waters made it grow,
the deep made it tall,
Letting its currents flow
around the place it was planted,
Then sending its channels
to all the other trees of the field.(B)
5 Thereupon it towered in height
above all the trees in the field;
Its branches were numerous
and its boughs long,
Because of the many waters
sent to its shoots.
Footnotes
- 31:3 Assyria: this translates te’ashshur, which some interpret as “cypress tree.” The oracle, however, compares the fate of Pharaoh to the terrible demise of Assyria because of its arrogant pride (cf. Na 1–3). Ezekiel may have drawn on an ancient myth of a cosmic tree of life to emphasize the greatness of Egypt’s fall.
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