Chapter Text
Egypt as a Felled Cedar
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,
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.
Summary
God declares the word of the Lord against Egypt in an extended oracle of woe. The day of the Lord is near, a day of clouds and doom for the nations. Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, and all the mingled people shall fall by the sword alongside Egypt. God will dry up the rivers and sell the land into the hands of the wicked. He will destroy the idols of Noph and break the arms of Pharaoh so that the sword falls from his hand. Egypt's young men shall go into captivity, and the yokes of Egypt shall be broken.
Meaning
This oracle portrays the day of the Lord as it applies to Egypt and her allies. The comprehensive scope of judgment, touching allies, cities, idols, and Pharaoh's military power, demonstrates that no aspect of Egyptian life will escape God's hand.
The breaking of Pharaoh's arms is a powerful image of military impotence. God systematically dismantles every source of Egyptian confidence: political alliances, religious systems, economic strength, and military might. When God acts against a nation, no human resource can withstand His purpose. The oracle serves as a warning to all who place their trust in earthly power rather than in the living God.
Background
The cities listed in the oracle, including Noph (Memphis), No (Thebes), Sin (Pelusium), and Pathros (Upper Egypt), represent the full geographic extent of Egypt from the Delta to the southern regions.
The allies mentioned alongside Egypt reflect the complex web of alliances and vassal relationships that characterized ancient Near Eastern geopolitics. Ethiopia in particular had close ties with Egypt, having ruled it during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty.
Chapter Outline
- vv. 1-2The word comes against Pharaoh
- vv. 3-9Assyria as the glorious cedar
- vv. 10-14Pride brings the cedar down
- vv. 15-17Mourning and descent to the pit
- vv. 18The warning applied to Pharaoh
Key Verses
“Behold, 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.”— 31:3
The opening image of the great cedar establishes the chapter's central allegory, using Assyria's former glory as a cautionary mirror held up to Egypt's pride.
“Therefore 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;”— 31:10
This verse names the fatal sin at the heart of the oracle—pride of heart—echoing the prophetic theme that exaltation invites divine judgment.
“To 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.”— 31:18
The closing application turns the allegory directly upon Pharaoh, sealing the warning that no earthly empire, however majestic, escapes the leveling judgment of God.
People & Places
People
- Pharaoh — The king of Egypt addressed by the oracle, warned through the example of fallen Assyria.
- Ezekiel — The prophet in exile receiving the word of the LORD on the first day of the third month of the eleventh year.
- The Assyrian — Representative of the once-mighty Assyrian empire, here likened to a towering cedar that God brought low.
Places
- Egypt — The ancient Nile kingdom whose proud king is the target of this prophetic taunt.
- Lebanon — Renowned for its great cedars, used as the setting for the allegorical tree of Assyria's greatness.
- Eden, the garden of God — The primeval paradise invoked as the standard of beauty against which the cedar is measured.
- Assyria — The northern empire whose recent fall (612 BC) serves as the historical warning to Egypt.
Prophecy & Fulfillment
This chapter is a prophetic oracle against Egypt delivered in 587 BC, shortly before Nebuchadnezzar's campaigns would humble Pharaoh Hophra. Verse 11 announces that God has delivered the proud nation 'into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen,' a reference fulfilled as Babylon advanced against Egypt in the years following. The descent to 'the nether parts of the earth' in verses 14-18 anticipates the fuller dirge of chapter 32, and stands within the broader prophetic pattern that all proud kingdoms must bow before the sovereignty of the LORD.
Devotional
Ezekiel sets a mirror before every heart tempted to measure worth by height, reach, or reputation. The cedar was genuinely magnificent—God Himself made it fair—yet its beauty became its undoing when its heart was lifted up in its height.
The gifts that bless us can quietly become the idols that ruin us. Today, take honest stock of what you are tempted to boast in: career, family, ministry, intellect. Receive each as grace, hold each with open hands, and remember that the God who plants is also the God who prunes.
Literary Style
Prophetic oracle in the form of an extended allegorical taunt-song. The chapter uses sustained arboreal metaphor, hyperbolic imagery drawn from Eden and Lebanon, and a reversal structure that moves from soaring exaltation to descent into Sheol.