Pharaoh Warned of Assyria’s Fate

1In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes,

‘Whom are you like in your greatness?

3‘Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon

With beautiful branches and forest shade,

And [a]very high,

And its top was among the [b]clouds.

4‘The waters made it grow, the [c]deep made it high.

With its rivers it continually [d]extended all around its planting place,

And sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.

5‘Therefore its height was loftier than all the trees of the field

And its boughs became many and its branches long

Because of many waters [e]as it spread them out.

6‘All the birds of the sky nested in its twigs,

And under its branches all the animals of the field gave birth,

And all great nations lived under its shade.

7‘So it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches;

For its [f]roots extended to many waters.

8‘The cedars in God’s garden [g]could not match it;

The junipers [h]could not compare with its branches,

And the plane trees [i]could not match its branches.

No tree in God’s garden [j]could compare with 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, were jealous of it.

10‘Therefore this is what the Lord [k]GOD says: “Because [l]it is tall in stature and has put its top among the [m]clouds, and its heart is haughty in its loftiness, 11I will hand it over to a [n]ruler of the nations; he will thoroughly deal with it. In accordance with its wickedness I have driven it out. 12Foreign tyrants of the nations have cut it down and left it; on the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its branches have been broken in all the ravines of the land. And all the peoples of the earth have gone down from its shade and left it. 13All the birds of the sky will nest on its fallen trunk, and all the animals of the field will [o]rest on its fallen branches, 14so that all the trees by the waters will not be exalted in their stature, nor put their tops among the [p]clouds, nor will any of their [q]well-watered mighty ones stand straight in their height. For they have all been turned over to death, to the earth beneath, among [r]mankind, [s]with those who go down to the pit.”

15‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “On the day when it went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the [t]deep over it and held back its rivers. And its many waters were stopped up, and I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted away on account of it. 16I made the nations quake from the sound of its fall when I made it go down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all the [u]well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, were comforted in the earth beneath. 17They also went down with it to Sheol to those who were slain by the sword; and those who were its [v]strength lived in its shade among the nations.

18“To which among the trees of Eden are you so alike in glory and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth beneath; you will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those who were killed by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his hordes!”’ declares the Lord GOD.”

[a] 3 Lit high of stature
[b] 3 As in LXX; MT thick boughs
[c] 4 I.e., subterranean waters
[d] 4 Lit was going
[e] 5 Lit in its sending forth
[f] 7 Lit root was
[g] 8 Lit did
[h] 8 Lit did
[i] 8 Lit were not like
[j] 8 Lit did
[k] 10 Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch
[l] 10 As in Syriac; MT you are
[m] 10 As in LXX; MT thick branches
[n] 11 Or mighty one
[o] 13 Lit be on
[p] 14 As in LXX; MT thick branches
[q] 14 Lit drinkers of water
[r] 14 Lit sons of mankind
[s] 14 Lit to
[t] 15 I.e., subterranean waters
[u] 16 Lit drinkers of water
[v] 17 Lit arm