The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 31 Another prophecy against Pharaoh, king of Egypt

 The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 31

Another prophecy against Pharaoh, king of Egypt

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: ‘To whom are you like in your greatness?

3 Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches, with shady foliage and high stature, and its top was among the thick boughs.

4 The waters made it grow, the deep exalted it; its streams flowed around its planting area, and it sent out its rivulets to all the trees of the field.

5 Therefore its stature was raised above all the trees of the field, and its branches were multiplied, and its boughs were lengthened, because of the many waters that it sent out.

6 All the birds of the air nested in its branches, and all the beasts of the field gave birth under its boughs, and all the great peoples sat in its shade.

7 So was it beautiful in its greatness, in the extent of its branches; for its root was by many waters.

8 The cedars could not overshadow it in the garden of God; the fir trees did not equal its branches, and the chestnut trees were not like its shoots: no tree in the garden of God resembled it in its beauty.

9 I made it beautiful with the multitude of its branches; and all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God, envied it.

10 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have risen in your stature, and your top has stood up among the thick branches, and your heart has become lifted up in your height,

11 I will deliver it into the hand of the mightiest of nations, who will deal with it according to its deserved treatment; Because of his wickedness I will cast him out.

12 And strangers, the most formidable of the nations, cut him down and left him; his branches fell on the mountains and in all the valleys, and his shoots were broken off by all the streams of the earth; and all the peoples of the earth withdrew from his shade and left him.

13 All the birds of the air dwelt upon his ruin, and all the beasts of the field took refuge under his branches;

14 So that all the trees by the waters may not exalt themselves in their stature, nor lift up their tops among the thick boughs, nor may those that drink the waters trust in themselves because of their height; for all are given over to death, even the lowest earth, in the midst of the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.

15 Thus says the Lord God: On the day that he went down to hell, I caused mourning; I covered the abyss for his sake, and restrained its currents, and they stood still; and I covered Lebanon with black for his sake, and all the trees of the field withered because of him.

16 At the sound of his fall I made the nations tremble, when I made him go down to hell with those who go down to the pit; and all the trees of Eden, the flower and the best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lowest land.

17 These also shall go down with him to hell, to join those who were slain by the sword: yes, those who were his arm, and who sat in the shade in the midst of the nations.

18 To whom then are you like in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you shall go down with the trees of Eden to the lowest land; in the midst of the uncircumcised you shall lie with those who were slain by the sword: this is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God.