Ezekiel 31

Revised Geneva Translation

31 And in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying:

² “Son of man, speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to his multitude, ‘Whom are you like in your greatness?

³ ‘Behold, Assyria —a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and with thick shadowing boughs, and shot up very high, and his top among the thick boughs —

⁴ ‘the waters nourished him, and the deep exalted him on high, with her rivers running all through his plants. And she sent out her little rivers to 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 were long, because of the multitude of the waters which were sent out.

⁶ ‘All the birds of the heavens made their nests in his boughs. And all the beasts of the field brought forth their young under his branches. And under his shadow dwelt all mighty nations.

⁷ ‘Thus he was fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches. For his root was near great waters.

⁸ ‘The cedars in the Garden of God could not hide him. No fir tree was like his branches. And the chestnut trees were not like his boughs. No tree in the Garden of God was like him in his beauty.

⁹ ‘I 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 says the Lord GOD: “Because he is lifted up on high, and has 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 hands of the mightiest among the heathen. He shall handle him. I have cast him away for his wickedness.

¹² “And the strangers have destroyed him, the ruthless nations; and they have left him upon the mountains; and in all the valleys his branches have fallen; and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land. And all the people of the Earth have departed from his shadow and have forsaken him.

¹³ “Upon his ruin shall all the birds of the heaven remain; and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches,

¹⁴ “so that none of the trees by the waters shall be exalted by their height or shall shoot up their top among the thick boughs. Nor shall those whose leaves drink water stand up in their height, for they are all delivered to death in the nether parts of the Earth, in the midst of the children of men, among those who go down to the pit.”

¹⁵ ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On the day when he went down to Hell, I caused them to mourn. I covered the deep for him and I restrained its floods, and the great waters were held back. I caused Lebanon to mourn for him. And all the trees of the field fainted.

¹⁶ “I made the nations shake at the sound of his fall when I cast him down to Hell with those who descend into the pit and all the excellent trees of Eden and the best of Lebanon. All who are nourished with waters shall be comforted in the nether parts of the Earth.

¹⁷ “They also went down to Hell with him, to those who were killed with the sword. And they dwelt under the shadow of his arm, in the midst of the heathen.

¹⁸ “To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? And yet, you shall be cast down with the trees of Eden into the nether parts of the Earth. You shall sleep in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are killed by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,” says the Lord GOD.’”