Ezequiel 31

ARC · Chapter 31/48

1E succedeu, no anno undecimo, no terceiro mez, ao primeiro do mez, que veiu a mim a palavra do Senhor, dizendo:

2Filho do homem, dize a Pharaó, rei do Egypto, e á sua multidão: A quem és similhante na tua grandeza?

3Eis que a Assyria era um cedro no Libano, de ramos formosos, sombrio de ramagem e de alta estatura, e entre os ramos espessos estava a sua copa.

4As aguas o fizeram crescer, o abysmo o exalçou: com as suas correntes corria em torno do seu plantio, e enviava os regatos a todas as arvores do campo.

5Por isso se elevou a sua estatura sobre todas as arvores do campo, e se multiplicaram os seus ramos, e se alongaram as suas varas, por causa das muitas aguas que enviava.

6Todas as aves do céu se aninhavam nos seus ramos, e todos os animaes do campo geravam debaixo dos seus ramos, e todos os grandes povos se assentavam á sua sombra.

7Assim era elle formoso na sua grandeza, na extensão dos seus ramos, porque a sua raiz estava junto ás muitas aguas.

8Os cedros não o escureciam no jardim de Deus; as faias não egualavam os seus ramos, e os castanheiros não eram como os seus renovos: nenhuma arvore no jardim de Deus se assimilhou a elle na sua formosura.

9Formoso o fiz com a multidão dos seus ramos; e todas as arvores do Eden, que estavam no jardim de Deus, tiveram inveja d'elle.

10Portanto assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: Porquanto te elevaste na tua estatura, e se levantou a sua copa no meio dos espessos ramos, e o seu coração se exalçou na sua altura,

11Portanto o entreguei na mão da mais poderosa das nações, para que o tratasse com o tratamento merecido; pela sua impiedade o lançarei fóra.

12E uns estranhos o exterminaram, os mais formidaveis das nações, e o deixaram: cairam os seus ramos sobre os montes e por todos os valles, e os seus renovos foram quebrados por todas as correntes da terra; e todos os povos da terra se retiraram da sua sombra, e o deixaram.

13Todas as aves do céu habitavam sobre a sua ruina, e todos os animaes do campo se acolheram sob os seus renovos;

14Para que todas as arvores das aguas não se elevem na sua estatura, nem levantem a sua copa no meio dos ramos espessos, nem todas as que bebem as aguas venham a confiar em si, por causa da sua altura; porque já todos estão entregues á morte, até á terra mais baixa, no meio dos filhos dos homens, com os que descem á cova.

15Assim diz o Senhor Jehovah: No dia em que elle desceu ao inferno, fiz eu que houvesse luto; fiz cobrir o abysmo, por sua causa, e retive as suas correntes, e se cohibiram; e cobri o Libano de preto por causa d'elle, e todas as arvores do campo por causa d'elle desfalleceram.

16Ao som da sua queda fiz tremer as nações, quando o fiz descer ao inferno com os que descem á cova; e todas as arvores do Eden, a flor e o melhor do Libano, todas as arvores que bebem aguas, se consolavam na terra mais baixa.

17Tambem estes com elles descerão ao inferno, aos que foram traspassados á espada, e os que foram seu braço, e que estavam assentados á sombra no meio das nações.

18A quem pois és assim similhante em gloria e em grandeza entre as arvores do Eden? antes serás derribado com as arvores do Eden á terra mais baixa; no meio dos incircumcisos jazerás com os que foram traspassados á espada: este é Pharaó e toda a sua multidão, diz o Senhor Jehovah

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God compares Pharaoh to a magnificent cedar of Lebanon, taller and more leafy than any tree in the 'garden of God,' but one that would be cut down because of its pride, just as happened to Assyria before it.

Explanation

Using Assyria as a warning example (v. 3) is a deliberate strategy: that nation, once the dominant superpower of the region, had already fallen (Nineveh was destroyed in 612 B.C.), so Pharaoh should have recognized in another's example the fate awaiting him for the same sin of pride. The metaphor of the giant tree whose roots feed on 'many waters' describes power that seems unshakable, yet God can cut it down in an instant. The lesson about watching the mistakes of earlier empires and still repeating them is timeless — history tends to repeat itself when its lessons go unlearned.

Fun facts

  • Cedar of Lebanon was the most prized timber of the ancient world, used in building Solomon's temple and royal palaces throughout Mesopotamia, making it a natural symbol of greatness and power.
  • The fall of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital used here as a warning, is also the central theme of the prophetic book of Nahum, and was confirmed archaeologically by the discovery of the city's ruins in 1847.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Ezequiel 31:1The formula that opens a new message against Egypt, dated around 587 BC, this time using the image of a great tree.
  2. Ezequiel 31:2The rhetorical question that opens the chapter’s metaphor: ‘Whom art thou like in thy greatness?’ — the answer comes in the form of a long comparison to a gigantic tree.
  3. Ezequiel 31:3Assyria is described as a gigantic cedar in the garden of God, so tall that no other tree compares — the image borrows the prestige of the ancient Assyrian empire, already defeated by Ezekiel’s time, as a warning for Egypt, which was heading toward the same fate.
  4. Ezequiel 31:4The tree used as a warning mirror for Egypt grew enormous thanks to abundant water — an image of prosperity coming from a wealth of natural resources.
  5. Ezequiel 31:5The more water the tree received, the bigger and more numerous its branches became — material wealth feeding ever more uncontrolled growth.
  6. Ezequiel 31:6Birds nest in it, animals shelter beneath its branches, and whole peoples sit in its shade — an image of a power that sustains smaller nations.
  7. Ezequiel 31:7It sums up the tree’s beauty, noting that its strength came from its root planted by ‘great waters,’ that is, from an abundance of resources.
  8. Ezequiel 31:8Not even the cedars in ‘the garden of God,’ language recalling Eden, could compare to this tree — a poetic exaggeration describing unmatched greatness.
  9. Ezequiel 31:9All the trees of Eden envied it, reinforcing that this was the most admired power among all the nations of the time.
  10. Ezequiel 31:10The cause of the cedar’s fall is the same as in other oracles in the book: the heart grew proud because of its own height — pride generated by one’s own success is the pattern repeated in almost every oracle against the great powers in these chapters.
  11. Ezequiel 31:11Because of its pride, the tree is handed over to an even more powerful nation, driven out ‘for his wickedness’ — its very growth becomes the reason for its fall.
  12. Ezequiel 31:12Foreigners cut down the tree; its branches fall scattered about and the peoples who sheltered in its shade leave — the power’s collapse and the flight of its former allies.
  13. Ezequiel 31:13After falling, the same tree becomes a perch for birds and a shelter for animals — an ironic inversion: what once gave protection now serves only as a ruin occupied by creatures.
  14. Ezequiel 31:14This tree’s fall becomes a general warning: no other nation should take pride in its own height, because everyone, sooner or later, goes down to ‘the pit’ of death.
  15. Ezequiel 31:15On the day of the fall, even nature reacts — waters held back, Lebanon covered in mourning — using natural imagery to show the scale of the shock caused.
  16. Ezequiel 31:16‘Cast him down to hell’ here is not hell in the later sense of eternal punishment; it is Sheol, the common idea in the ancient biblical world of a shared place beneath the earth where the dead go, without distinction — just ‘the pit,’ not a detailed theology of the afterlife.
  17. Ezequiel 31:17Others who had already died in that power’s wars go down together with it to the same final destination, the world of the dead.
  18. Ezequiel 31:18The metaphor’s conclusion: the same question from the beginning is applied directly to Pharaoh — he and all Egypt would end up in the same place as this great fallen tree.

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