Ezekiel 31

1 In the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, the LORD’s word came to me, saying,

2 “Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt and his multitude: ‘Whom are you like in your greatness?

3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.

4 The waters nourished it. The deep made it to grow. Its rivers ran all around its plantation. It sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.

5 Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied. Its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it spread them out.

6 All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs. Under its branches, all the animals of the field gave birth to their young. All great nations lived under its shadow.

7 Thus it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters.

8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it. The cypress trees were not like its branches. The pine trees were not like its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.

9 I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it.’

10 “Therefore thus said the Lord GOD: ‘Because he is exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick branches, and his heart is lifted up in his height,

11 I will deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He will surely deal with him. I have driven him out for his wickedness.

12 Foreigners, the tyrants of the nations, have cut him off and have left him. His branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land. All the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow and have left him.

13 All the birds of the sky will dwell on his ruin, and all the animals of the field will be on his branches,

14 to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, and don’t set their top among the thick boughs. Their mighty ones don’t stand up on their height, even all who drink water; for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, among the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.’

15 “The Lord GOD says: ‘In the day when he went down to Sheol, I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers. The great waters were stopped. I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.

16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit. All the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth.

17 They also went down into Sheol with him to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were his arm, who lived under his shadow in the middle of the nations.

18 “‘To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth. You will lie in the middle of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. “‘This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord GOD.”

Around Ezekiel 31

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Ezekiel as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

By a canal in Babylonia, among the first exiles, a priest looks up. “the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” The book opens with an overwhelming vision of God’s glory, and Ezekiel, a priest taken to Babylon with the first exiles, falls before it. In the first half he announces, in words and in acted signs, that Jerusalem will fall, and he sees the glory of God leave the temple.

After the city falls, the message turns to hope: a new heart and a new spirit. In a valley of dry bones God asks him, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel answers, “Lord GOD, you know.” The bones are brought to life, and the book ends with a final vision of a new temple to which God’s glory returns.

Background

Ezekiel’s visions are dated between 593 and 571 before Christ. He lived among exiles by a canal in Babylonia, far from the temple he had served. The book’s imagery influenced later Jewish writing and the book of Revelation.

How Christians read it

Christians differ most over the temple vision of chapters 40 to 48. Some expect a literal temple in the future. Others read it as a picture of God living with his people, fulfilled in Christ, in the church and finally in the new creation described at the end of Revelation. The promise of a new heart in chapter 36 is widely linked with the work of the Holy Spirit.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 20 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes