New Living Translation | NET Bible |
1On June 21, during the eleventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, this message came to me from the LORD: | 1In 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, give this message to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all his hordes: “To whom would you compare your greatness? | 2"Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his hordes: "'Who are you like in your greatness? |
3You are like mighty Assyria, which was once like a cedar of Lebanon, with beautiful branches that cast deep forest shade and with its top high among the clouds. | 3Consider Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade, and extremely tall; its top reached into the clouds. |
4Deep springs watered it and helped it to grow tall and luxuriant. The water flowed around it like a river, streaming to all the trees nearby. | 4The water made it grow; underground springs made it grow tall. Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted, while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field. |
5This great tree towered high, higher than all the other trees around it. It prospered and grew long thick branches because of all the water at its roots. | 5Therefore it grew taller than all the trees of the field; its boughs grew large and its branches grew long, because of the plentiful water in its shoots. |
6The birds nested in its branches, and in its shade all the wild animals gave birth. All the great nations of the world lived in its shadow. | 6All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth, in its shade all the great nations lived. |
7It was strong and beautiful, with wide-spreading branches, for its roots went deep into abundant water. | 7It was beautiful in its loftiness, in the length of its branches; for its roots went down deep to plentiful waters. |
8No other cedar in the garden of God could rival it. No cypress had branches to equal it; no plane tree had boughs to compare. No tree in the garden of God came close to it in beauty. | 8The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it, nor could the fir trees match its boughs; the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches; no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty. |
9Because I made this tree so beautiful, and gave it such magnificent foliage, it was the envy of all the other trees of Eden, the garden of God. | 9I made it beautiful with its many branches; all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it. |
10“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because Egypt became proud and arrogant, and because it set itself so high above the others, with its top reaching to the clouds, | 10"'Therefore this is what the sovereign LORD says: Because it was tall in stature, and its top reached into the clouds, and it was proud of its height, |
11I will hand it over to a mighty nation that will destroy it as its wickedness deserves. I have already discarded it. | 11I gave it over to the leader of the nations. He has judged it thoroughly, as its sinfulness deserves. I have thrown it out. |
12A foreign army—the terror of the nations—has cut it down and left it fallen on the ground. Its branches are scattered across the mountains and valleys and ravines of the land. All those who lived in its shadow have gone away and left it lying there. | 12Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land have departed from its shade and left it. |
13“The birds roost on its fallen trunk, and the wild animals lie among its branches. | 13On its ruins all the birds of the sky will live, and all the wild animals will walk on its branches. |
14Let the tree of no other nation proudly exult in its own prosperity, though it be higher than the clouds and it be watered from the depths. For all are doomed to die, to go down to the depths of the earth. They will land in the pit along with everyone else on earth. | 14For this reason no watered trees will grow so tall; their tops will not reach into the clouds, nor will the well-watered ones grow that high. For all of them have been appointed to die in the lower parts of the earth; they will be among mere mortals, with those who descend to the pit. |
15“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When Assyria went down to the grave, I made the deep springs mourn. I stopped its rivers and dried up its abundant water. I clothed Lebanon in black and caused the trees of the field to wilt. | 15"'This is what the sovereign LORD says: On the day it went down to Sheol I caused observers to lament. I covered it with the deep and held back its rivers; its plentiful water was restrained. I clothed Lebanon in black for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it. |
16I made the nations shake with fear at the sound of its fall, for I sent it down to the grave with all the others who descend to the pit. And all the other proud trees of Eden, the most beautiful and the best of Lebanon, the ones whose roots went deep into the water, took comfort to find it there with them in the depths of the earth. | 16I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I threw it down to Sheol, along with those who descend to the pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, all that were well-watered, were comforted in the earth below. |
17Its allies, too, were all destroyed and had passed away. They had gone down to the grave—all those nations that had lived in its shade. | 17Those who lived in its shade, its allies among the nations, also went down with it to Sheol, to those killed by the sword. |
18“O Egypt, to which of the trees of Eden will you compare your strength and glory? You, too, will be brought down to the depths with all these other nations. You will lie there among the outcasts who have died by the sword. This will be the fate of Pharaoh and all his hordes. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!” | 18Which of the trees of Eden was like you in majesty and loftiness? You will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword! This is what will happen to Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the sovereign LORD.'" |
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