1And in the eleventh year, the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2“Son of man, ask Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his hordes, ‘Who can you be compared with in majesty?
3Consider Assyria – once a cedar in Lebanon with spreading branches that over-shadowed the forest, it towered high above the highest trees; and its top was above the highest boughs.
4The deep springs watered him so that he grew great; the deep streams flowed around its roots, and sent out channels to all the trees nearby.
5Therefore, its height exceeded all the trees of the forest, and its boughs expanded, and its branches grew long because of the abundance of water, as it shot up.
6All the birds of the sky built their nests in its boughs, and under its branches all the animals of the field brought up their young, and under its shade dwelt all great nations.
7Thus was it majestic in its greatness and in the length of its branches; for its root was fed abundant water.
8The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir trees were not equal its boughs, nor the chestnut trees, nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.
9I made it beautiful with its multitude of branches; so that all the other trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it.
10Therefore, thus says the LORD God: “Because you (the great cedar) have lifted yourself up in height, and have shot your top among the thick boughs, and have become excessively prideful of your height,
11I have, therefore, delivered you into the hand of the mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with you; I have driven you out for your wickedness.
12And strangers, the most ruthless of the nations, have cut you down, and have left you; lying upon the mountains and your branches are fallen into all the valleys, and your boughs lie broken along the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth have gone out from under your shadow, and have left you.
13All the birds shall remain among your ruins, and all the wild animals shall live among your branches:
14To the end that no other nation will proudly exult in its own prosperity, though it be higher than the clouds and watered from the depths. For all are destined to die, to go down to the depths of the earth. They will land in the pit along with everyone else on earth.
15Thus says the Sovereign LORD: “In the day when that cedar (Assyria) went down to the grave, I made the deep springs mourn.; I stopped its rivers and dried up its abundant water, and I restrained its floods, and the great waters were stayed; and I draped Lebanon in black to mourn for him, and I caused the trees of the field to wilt.
16I made the nations to shake at the sound of its fall, when I cast him down to the grave with all those who descend into the pit; then all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, that drink water, took comfort to find it there with them.
17They also had gone down to the grave – all the nations that had dwelt under his shadow.
18To whom are you most like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden, O Egypt? Yet you, too, shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth; you shall lie among the uncircumcised who are slain by the sword. This is the destiny of Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the LORD God. Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |
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