1På den første dag i den tredje måned i det 11. år af vores eksil sagde Herren til mig:2-3„Du menneske, giv egypterkongen og hele hans folk følgende budskab: Hvem skal jeg sammenligne dig med? Med Assyrien? Det land var engang som et af Libanons majestætiske cedertræer med smukke grene og skyggefuld krone. Det ragede højt op, helt til skyerne.4Vandet fra jordens dyb gav det vækst, og små floder strømmede tæt forbi det, før de fortsatte til skovens andre træer.5Cedertræet knejsede over alle de andre træer, og det fik mange og lange grene, fordi det havde rigeligt med vand.6Fugle byggede rede i dets grene, de vilde dyr ynglede i dets skygge. Alle verdens folkeslag levede i skyggen af dets storhed.7Det var et stærkt og smukt træ, hvis rødder nåede ned til grundvandet.8Ingen andre træer i Edens have kunne måle sig med det, hverken cedre, fyr eller platantræer.9Jeg gjorde det cedertræ så smukt, at alle træer i Guds have misundte det.10Herren siger om Assyrien: Fordi din stamme blev høj og din krone strakte sig op mellem skyerne, blev du stolt og indbildsk.11Derfor udleverede jeg dig til en mægtig nation, der kunne straffe dig for din gudløshed og ondskab. Jeg forkastede dig.12Et grusomt folk fældede dig og lod dig ligge på bjergsiden. Dit løv faldt ned i dalene, og dine grene lå knækkede ved alle landets vandløb. Alle de folkeslag, som havde søgt ly under din skygge, forlod dig.13Fuglene slog sig ned på din faldne stamme, og de vilde dyr lagde sig oven på dine splintrede grene.14Ingen træer har lov at få så høje stammer, at de når til skyerne, uanset hvor dybt ned deres rødder når, og hvor meget vand de får. Ingen skal sætte lid til deres egen styrke og storhed. Alle skal forgå og ende i dødsriget. Selv de stærkeste ender i graven.15Gud Herren siger: Den dag du endte i dødsriget, holdt jeg vandstrømmene tilbage. Jeg klædte Libanon i sørgedragt, og alle landets træer hang med bladene.16Ved braget fra dit fald skælvede folkeslagene af skræk, for jeg styrtede dig i graven til dem, der gik forud for dig. Dernede fandt de andre stolte træer fra Guds have trøst, for du delte skæbne med dem, alle disse engang så ranke cedre, hvis rødder nåede ned til grundvandet.17Dine forbundsfæller, som sad i din skygge, endte samme sted, for de blev hugget ned af fjendens sværd og fulgte dig i dødsriget. De sluttede sig til dem, der tidligere var blevet fældet.18Egypten, du er større og prægtigere end alle andre træer i Guds have, men du skal alligevel ende i graven som Assyrien og de andre. Du kommer til at ligge side om side med de folkeslag, du foragtede og besejrede i krig. Det er egypterkongens og hans folks skæbne, siger Gud Herren.”
1In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: (Ez 20,1)2“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: “Whom are you like in your greatness? (Ez 2,1; Ez 29,19; Ez 30,4; Ez 31,18; Ez 32,12; Ez 32,16; Ez 32,19; Ez 32,20; Ez 32,31)3Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches and forest shade, and of towering height, its top among the clouds.[1] (Dom 9,15; Es 10,33; Es 10,34; Ez 17,23; Ez 31,15; Dan 4,10; Dan 4,20)4The waters nourished it; the deep made it grow tall, making its rivers flow around the place of its planting, sending forth its streams to all the trees of the field. (Ez 17,7)5So it towered high above all the trees of the field; its boughs grew large and its branches long from abundant water in its shoots. (Salm 1,3; Ez 17,5; Dan 4,11)6All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth to their young, and under its shadow lived all great nations. (Ez 17,23; Dan 4,12; Dan 4,21)7It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its roots went down to abundant waters. (Ez 31,2; Ez 31,5)8The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it, nor the fir trees equal its boughs; neither were the plane trees like its branches; no tree in the garden of God was its equal in beauty. (Ez 28,13; Ez 31,16; Ez 31,18; Amos 2,9)9I made it beautiful in the mass of its branches, and all the trees of Eden envied it, that were in the garden of God. (Es 51,3)10“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because it[2] towered high and set its top among the clouds,[3] and its heart was proud of its height, (Es 10,12; Ez 31,3; Dan 5,20)11I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out.12Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land, and all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. (Ez 6,3; Ez 28,7; Ez 32,5; Dan 4,14)13On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. (Ez 32,4)14All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,[4] and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height. For they are all given over to death, to the world below, among the children of man,[5] with those who go down to the pit. (Salm 63,9; Ez 26,20; Ez 31,5; Ez 31,16; Ez 31,18; Ez 32,18; Ez 32,24)15“Thus says the Lord God: On the day the cedar[6] went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. (Es 14,9; Ez 32,18; Ez 32,21)16I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the world below. (Es 14,8; Ez 26,15; Ez 31,9; Ez 31,15; Ez 32,31)17They also went down to Sheol with it, to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were its arm, who lived under its shadow among the nations. (Ez 30,5; Ez 30,8; Ez 31,6; Ez 32,20; Ez 35,8)18“Whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. “This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord God.” (Ez 28,10; Ez 31,2; Ez 31,16; Ez 31,17; Ez 32,19; Ez 32,21; Ez 32,24; Ez 32,28; Matt 11,23; Luk 10,15)