the Fourth Week of Advent
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Lexham English Bible
Ezekiel 31
Pharaoh Is Warned Through Assyria's Destruction
1 And then[a] in the eleventh[b] year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came[c] to me, saying,[d] 2 "Son of man,[e] say to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his crowd,[f]
‘To whom are you like in your greatness?
3 Look! Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon,
with beautiful branches[g] and a forest giving shade,
and very high,[h]
and its treetop was between the clouds.
4 Waters made it great,
the deep made it grow high;
its rivers were going all around its planting area,[i]
and its channels it sent out
to all of the trees of the field.
5 Therefore it became tall,
with its height more than all of the trees of the field,
and its branches became numerous,
and its branches became long
from its sending its shoots from abundant water.[j]
6 In its branches all the birds[k] of the heaven[l] made their nest,
and under its branches all the animals[m] of the field gave birth,
and in its shadow all the many nations lived.
7 And it was beautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its branches,
for its root was toward much water.
8 Cedars in the garden of God
could not be equal to it;
fir trees[n] could not resemble its branches,
and plane trees were not even like its branches;
any tree even in the garden of God
could not resemble it in its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful with the abundance of its branches,
and all of the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied it.'"
10 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because[o] it was tall in height and it set its treetop between[p] thick clouds, and he took pride in his tallness,[q] 11 then[r] I gave it into the hand of the leader of nations; he dealt thoroughly[s] with it according to its wickedness. I drove it out. 12 And strangers cut it off, the most ruthless of nations, and they abandoned it. On the mountains and in all of the valleys its branches fell, and its branches were broken in all the river channels of the land, and all the peoples of the world went out from its shadow, and they abandoned it. 13 On its fallen trunk all the birds[t] of the heaven[u] now dwell, and all the animals of the field were on its branches. 14 This occurred so that all of the trees with abundant water will not become tall, and they will not set their treetop between[v] their thick foliage,[w] and so thatall of the trees that are abundantly watered[x] will not stand up to them[y] in their tallness, for all of them, they have been given over to death, to the world below in the midst of mortals,[z] to the people going down to the grave."[aa]
15 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "On the day of its going down to Sheol, I caused mourning; I covered over it with the deep, and I withheld its rivers, and many waters were restrained, and I brought gloom over it; Lebanon and all of the trees of the field, they had fainted because of it. 16 From the sound of its downfall I caused nations to shake when I made it go down to Sheol, with the people going down to the grave,[ab] and so in the world below all of the trees of Eden, the choice and the best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees[ac] were comforted! 17 They also went down with it to Sheol to those who died by the sword,[ad] and its army who had lived in its shadow in the midst of nations.
18 To whom could you be compared, whether in glory or in majesty[ae] among the trees of Eden? And yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below; in the midst of the uncircumcised you will lie with those who died by the sword.[af] That is Pharaoh and his entire[ag] crowd!"[ah] declares[ai] the Lord Yahweh.
Lexham English Bible
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