Hesekiel 31,3 | New International Reader’s Version

1 It was the 11th year since King Jehoiachin had been brought to Babylon as a prisoner. On the first day of the third month, a message from the LORD came to me. The LORD said, 2 ‘Son of man, speak to Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt. Also speak to his huge army. Tell him, ‘ “Who can be compared with your majesty? 3 Think about what happened to Assyria. Once it was like a cedar tree in Lebanon. It had beautiful branches that provided shade for the forest. It grew very high. Its top was above all the leaves. 4 The waters fed it. Deep springs made it grow tall. Their streams flowed all around its base. They made their way to all the trees in the fields. 5 So it grew higher than any other tree in the fields. It grew more limbs. Its branches grew long. They spread because they had plenty of water. 6 All the birds in the sky made their nests in its limbs. All the wild animals had their babies under its branches. All the great nations lived in its shade. 7 Its spreading branches made it majestic and beautiful. Its roots went down deep to where there was plenty of water. 8 The cedar trees in my garden were no match for it. The juniper trees could not equal its limbs. The plane trees could not compare with its branches. No tree in my garden could match its beauty. 9 I gave it many branches. They made it beautiful. All the trees in my Garden of Eden were jealous of it.” ’ 10 So the LORD and King says, ‘The great cedar tree grew very high. Its top was above all the leaves. It was proud of how tall it was. 11 So I handed it over to the Babylonian ruler of the nations. I wanted him to punish it because it was so evil. I decided to get rid of it. 12 The Babylonians cut it down and left it there. They did not show it any pity at all. Some of its branches fell on the mountains. Others fell in all the valleys. The branches lay broken in all the stream beds in the land. All the nations on earth came out from under its shade. And they went on their way. 13 All the birds settled on the fallen tree. All the wild animals lived among its branches. 14 So trees that receive plenty of water must never grow so high that it makes them proud. Their tops must never be above the rest of the leaves. No other trees that receive a lot of water must ever grow that high. They are appointed to die and go down into the earth below. They will join human beings, who go down to the place of the dead.’ 15 The LORD and King says, ‘Assyria was like a cedar tree. But I brought it down to the place of the dead. On that day I dried up the deep springs of water and covered them. I held its streams back. I shut off its rich supply of water. Because of that, Lebanon was dressed in gloom as if it were clothes. All the trees in the fields dried up. 16 I brought the cedar tree down to the place of the dead. It joined the other nations that go down there. I made the nations on earth shake because of the sound of its fall. Then all the trees of Eden were comforted in the earth below. That included the finest and best trees in Lebanon. And it included all the trees that received plenty of water. 17 Others also went down along with the cedar tree into the place of the dead. They included those who had been killed by swords. They also included the armed men among the nations who lived in its shade. 18 ‘Which one of the trees of Eden can be compared with you? What tree is as glorious and majestic as you are? But you too will be brought down to the earth below. There you will join the trees of Eden. You will lie down with those who have not been circumcised. You will be among those who were killed by swords. ‘That is what will happen to Pharaoh and his huge armies,’ announces the LORD and King.

English Standard Version

Pharaoh to Be Slain

1 In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: “Whom are you like in your greatness? 3 Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches and forest shade, and of towering height, its top among the clouds.* 4 The 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. 5 So it towered high above all the trees of the field; its boughs grew large and its branches long from abundant water in its shoots. 6 All 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. 7 It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its roots went down to abundant waters. 8 The 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. 9 I made it beautiful in the mass of its branches, and all the trees of Eden envied it, that were in the garden of God. 10 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because it* towered high and set its top among the clouds,* and its heart was proud of its height, 11 I 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. 12 Foreigners, 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. 13 On its fallen trunk dwell all the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. 14 All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to towering height or set their tops among the clouds,* 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,* with those who go down to the pit. 15 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day the cedar* 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. 16 I 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. 17 They 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. 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.”

Hesekiel 31,3 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Pharaoh to Be Slain