1 ARST Almost eleven years after the Babylonians had taken us Israelites to their land, Yahweh gave me another message, on the first day of the third month of that year. He said, BSB BSB: In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2 ARST “Son of man, say to the king of Egypt and to the immense numbers of his people,‘You think that there is no country whose power is as great as the power of your country. BSB BSB: “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: ‘Who can be compared to your greatness?
3 ARST You think that your country is as great as Assyria was. Well, Assyria was like a tall cedar tree in Lebanon; it had big beautiful branches that provided shade for other trees in the forest. It was very tall; and the branches of the tallest trees made a treetop that was a roof over the forest. BSB BSB: Look at Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches that shaded the forest. It towered on high; its top was among the clouds.
4 ARST Water came to it from deep springs, and as a result that cedar tree grew tall and very green. Then water flowed around the base of the tree into channels that took water to other nearby trees in the open countryside. BSB BSB: The waters made it grow; the deep springs made it tall, directing their streams all around its base and sending their channels to all the trees of the field.
5 ARST That huge tree grew very tall, higher than all the other trees around it. Its branches grew very thick and long because of the abundant water at the base of the tree. BSB BSB: Therefore it towered higher than all the trees of the field. Its branches multiplied, and its boughs grew long as it spread them out because of the abundant waters.
6 ARST Birds built their nests in the branches, and wild animals gave birth to their young under those branches. And it was as though people of all the great nations lived in the shade of that tree. BSB BSB: All the birds of the air nested in its branches, and all the beasts of the field gave birth beneath its boughs; all the great nations lived in its shade.
7 ARST It was majestic and beautiful; its branches spread out widely because the roots of the tree grew down into the ground where there was a plentiful supply of water. BSB BSB: It was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its limbs, for its roots extended to abundant waters.
8 ARST The cedar trees in my garden in Eden were not as great as that tree, and the branches of the fir trees were not as long and thick as the branches of that cedar tree. And the branches of the plane trees were not as long and thick, either. No tree in my garden was as beautiful as that cedar tree. BSB BSB: The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it; the cypresses could not compare with its branches, nor the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with its beauty.
9 ARST Because I caused that tree to become very beautiful because of its magnificent green branches, all the leaders of other countries represented by those other trees in Eden envied the country represented by that tree.’ BSB BSB: I made it beautiful with its many branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God.’
10 ARST Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say:‘That tree, which represents Assyria, grew very tall; its top was higher than the other trees, and it became very proud because it was so tall. BSB BSB: Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Since it became great in height and set its top among the clouds, and it grew proud on account of its height,
11 ARST Therefore, I enabled another mighty nation to conquer it, to destroy it as it deserved to be destroyed. I have already discarded it. BSB BSB: I delivered it into the hand of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with it according to its wickedness. I have banished it.
12 ARST A foreign army, one that has caused people of other nations to be terrified, cut it down and left it. Its branches fell on the mountains and in the valleys. Some of its branches lay broken in all the ravines in the land. All the people of other nations came out from being under its shade and left it. BSB BSB: Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.
13 ARST Birds of the sky settled on the fallen tree, and wild animals lived among its branches. BSB BSB: All the birds of the air nested on its fallen trunk, and all the beasts of the field lived among its boughs.
14 ARST As a result, no other tree, even if the tree has plenty of water, will ever grow to such great height, or lift its top above the branches higher than other trees. They will all certainly die and decay; they will go to the place of the dead; they will go to the grave.’” BSB BSB: This happened so that no other trees by the waters would become great in height and set their tops among the clouds, and no other well-watered trees would reach them in height. For they have all been consigned to death, to the depths of the earth, among the mortals who descend to the Pit.’
15 ARST This is what Yahweh the Lord says:“When that great tree was cut down, it was as though the springs that watered it mourned for it, because I caused the plentiful water from the springs to dry up. It was as if I had caused the mountains in Lebanon to mourn for it, and all the trees there to weep. BSB BSB: This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘On the day it was brought down to Sheol, I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it; I held back its rivers; its abundant waters were restrained. I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.
16 ARST I caused the people of other nations to tremble when they heard that tree fall to the ground— when they heard that Assyria had been destroyed. All the other people groups had also been like beautiful, well- watered trees in Lebanon, but they were comforted when the king represented by that cedar tree arrived among them in the place where they were as dead people. BSB BSB: I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were consoled in the earth below.
17 ARST The people represented by the trees that grew in the shade of that huge tree, the allies of the great nation that the cedar tree represents, had also died and gone down to where the dead people are. BSB BSB: They too descended with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword. As its allies they had lived in its shade among the nations.
18 ARST This parable is a warning to you people of Egypt. You think that there is no other nation that is as great and glorious as yours is. But your nation will also be destroyed, along with those other nations. Your people will be there among the other people who are not fit to worship me, people who have been killed by their enemies’ swords. That is what will happen to the king of Egypt and all his many people.” This is what the Lord Yahweh has declared will happen. BSB BSB: Who then is like you in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? You also will be brought down to the depths of the earth to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.’”
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