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The Prophets · Old Testament

Ezekiel 31

Ezekiel 31: Pharaoh measured against the Assyrian cedar

General context

In the eleventh year, third month, first day, the prophet is told to ask Pharaoh king of Egypt and his multitude, "Whom art thou like in thy greatness?" The answer is a picture of the Assyrian as a cedar in Lebanon, tall, with fair branches and its top among the thick boughs. The waters and the deep made it great; birds nested in its boughs, beasts bore their young under its branches, and all great nations lived in its shadow. No tree in the garden of God matched it, and the trees of Eden envied it. Because it lifted itself up in height and its heart was lifted up, the Lord delivered it into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen. Strangers cut it down; its branches lie broken on mountains, valleys and rivers, and the peoples leave its shadow. Birds and beasts settle on the ruin, as a warning that no watered tree should exalt itself, since all are given to death and the pit. On the day it went down to the grave the Lord caused a mourning: the deep was covered, the waters stayed, Lebanon mourned, the trees fainted and the nations shook. The trees of Eden are comforted in the nether parts of the earth, and those who lived in the cedar's shadow went down with it to the slain. The closing question repeats the opening one, and the word ends: "This is Pharaoh and all his multitude".

Cited passages: Ezekiel 31:1, Ezekiel 31:2, Ezekiel 31:3, Ezekiel 31:4, Ezekiel 31:6, Ezekiel 31:8, Ezekiel 31:9, Ezekiel 31:10, Ezekiel 31:11, Ezekiel 31:12, Ezekiel 31:13, Ezekiel 31:14, Ezekiel 31:15, Ezekiel 31:16, Ezekiel 31:17, Ezekiel 31:18

Ezekiel 31 (KJV)

1And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?

3Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.

4The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.

5Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.

6All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.

7Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.

8The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.

9I have 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.

10Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;

11I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.

12And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.

13Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:

14To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

15Thus saith the Lord God; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.

16I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

17They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.

18To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The date heading is the eleventh year, third month, first day, which follows the seventh day of the first month in 30:20. The addressee is Pharaoh king of Egypt "and to his multitude"; Pharaoh is not named. The tree is explicitly "the Assyrian", and the closing verse states the application: "This is Pharaoh and all his multitude". The chapter does not explain what the Assyrian's fall refers to or name "the mighty one of the heathen" who received him. The language of "the garden of God" and "the trees of Eden" is used as a comparison, as it was in the lament over the king of Tyrus in 28:13. The text moves without transition between "he" (the cedar) and "thou" (Pharaoh), for example in verse 10, so that some lines can be read of either. The descent to "the nether parts of the earth", "the pit" and those "slain with the sword" is the same vocabulary the next chapter develops at length.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 31:1, Ezekiel 30:20, Ezekiel 31:2, Ezekiel 31:3, Ezekiel 31:18, Ezekiel 31:11, Ezekiel 31:9, Ezekiel 28:13, Ezekiel 31:10, Ezekiel 31:14

Literary context

The oracle is framed by a repeated question, "Whom art thou like in thy greatness?" at the start and "To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness" at the end, with the explicit identification withheld until the last clause. Between them stands a parable of a tree. Its rise is told through water: the deep, rivers and little rivers feed it, and its beauty is a matter of branches and shade in which birds, beasts and nations live. The offence is height, "lifted up thyself in height", "his heart is lifted up in his height", the same charge laid on the prince of Tyrus whose heart was lifted up. The fall reverses the rise point by point: the branches that sheltered are "fallen" and "broken", the peoples "gone down from his shadow", and the birds and beasts now rest "upon his ruin". The waters that made the tree great are stopped in mourning for it. The lesson is stated in the text itself, that no watered tree should exalt itself, and the oracle ends by naming Pharaoh as the tree.

Cited passages: Ezekiel 31:2, Ezekiel 31:18, Ezekiel 31:4, Ezekiel 31:7, Ezekiel 31:10, Ezekiel 28:2, Ezekiel 31:12, Ezekiel 31:13, Ezekiel 31:15, Ezekiel 31:14

Key moments

  1. Whom art thou like? (Ezekiel 31:2). Pharaoh and his multitude are asked whom they resemble in greatness.
  2. The Assyrian cedar (Ezekiel 31:3). The Assyrian is pictured as a tall cedar in Lebanon with its top among the thick boughs.
  3. Nations under its shadow (Ezekiel 31:6). Birds nest, beasts bear young and all great nations dwell under the cedar.
  4. Lifted up in height (Ezekiel 31:10). The charge is that the tree lifted itself up and its heart rose with its height.
  5. Cut down by strangers (Ezekiel 31:12). The terrible of the nations cut the cedar off and its branches lie broken.
  6. The deep mourns (Ezekiel 31:15). On the day of its descent the Lord covers the deep and makes Lebanon mourn.
  7. This is Pharaoh (Ezekiel 31:18). The closing line names Pharaoh and his multitude as the tree.

For reflection

The cedar's shade sheltered birds, beasts and nations, and its fall is mourned by the waters that fed it. If the tree's greatness was real and did real good, what exactly is the text saying was wrong with it?

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