Ezekiel

And 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,

1In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, the LORD spoke to me. He said:

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

2"Son of man, speak to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to all his people. Ask them: who is as great as you think you are?

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.

3Look at Assyria. It was like a cedar tree in Lebanon, with lovely branches that shaded the forest. It stood tall, and its top reached up among the clouds.

NoteThe KJV says the cedar had "a shadowing shroud" and its top was "among the thick boughs." That means its branches shaded the forest, and its top rose up among the clouds.

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.

4Deep springs of water made the tree grow big and tall. Streams ran all around its roots and sent channels out to every other tree.

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.

5So it grew taller than all the other trees. Its branches spread wide and long, because there was so much water.

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.

6Birds built nests in its branches. Wild animals gave birth under its boughs. All the great nations lived in its shade.

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

7It was beautiful and huge, with long spreading limbs, because its roots reached down to plenty of water.

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

8No cedar in God's garden could match it. No cypress had branches like it, and no plane tree had boughs like it. No tree in God's garden was as beautiful.

NoteThe KJV names "fir trees" and "chestnut trees," but the trees meant here are the cypress and the plane tree.

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.

9I made it beautiful, with all its many branches. Every tree in Eden, in God's garden, wished it could be that tree.

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;

10So this is what the Lord GOD says: it grew very tall and pushed its top up among the clouds, and then it grew proud of its 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.

11So I handed it over to the ruler of the nations, to do to it what its wickedness deserved. I drove it out.

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.

12Foreigners, the cruelest of the nations, chopped it down and walked away. Its branches fell on the mountains and in every valley. Its boughs lay broken in the streambeds of the land. All the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.

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

13Now birds settle on the fallen trunk, and wild animals live among the broken 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.

14This happened so no other well-watered tree would grow proud of its height or push its top up among the clouds. None of them will tower like that again. All of them are headed for death, down to the world below, along with the people who go down to the grave.

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.

15This is what the Lord GOD says: on the day that tree went down to the place of the dead, I made everyone mourn. I covered over the deep springs and held back their rivers, so the great waters stopped flowing. I made Lebanon mourn for it, and every tree in the field wilted.

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.

16When I threw it down to the place of the dead, along with those who go into the grave, the nations shook at the crash. Then all the trees of Eden, the finest and best of Lebanon, every tree that drank water, were comforted down in the world below.

NoteThe KJV word "hell" here does not mean a place of punishment. It translates Sheol, the Hebrew name for the world of the dead, where everyone who dies goes.

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.

17They went down to the place of the dead with it, to join those killed in battle. They had been its allies and had lived in its shade among the nations.

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.

18So which tree of Eden was ever your equal in glory and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below. You will lie among people counted as outsiders, with those killed in battle. This is Pharaoh and all his people, says the Lord GOD."

Note"Uncircumcised" marked a person as outside Israel's covenant with God. In this passage it is a word of shame for the dead.