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Ezequiel 31

BLIVRE · Chapter 31/48

1E sucedeu, no décimo primeiro ano, no terceiro [mês] , ao primeiro [dia] do mês, que veio a mim a palavra do SENHOR, dizendo:

2Filho do homem, diz a Faraó, rei do Egito, e à sua multidão: A quem és semelhante na tua grandeza?

3Eis que a Assíria era um cedro do Líbano, de belos ramos, com grande sombra de sua folhagem, e de alta estatura; seu topo estava entre ramos espessos.

4As águas o nutriam, as profundezas o faziam crescer; correntes corriam ao redor de onde estava plantada, e enviava seus ribeiros a todas as árvores do campo.

5Por isso sua altura se elevou acima de todas as árvores do campo; seus galhos se multiplicaram, e seus ramos se alongavam, por causa das muitas águas enviadas.

6Todas as aves do céus faziam ninhos em seus galhos, e todos os animais do campo geravam debaixo de seus ramos; e todos os grandes povos habitavam à sua sombra.

7Assim era ele, belo em sua grandeza, na extensão de seus ramos; porque sua raiz estava junto a muitas águas.

8Os cedros não o encobriram no jardim de Deus; as faias não igualavam os seus galhos, nem os plátanos eram semelhantes a seus ramos; nenhuma árvore no jardim de Deus se assemelhava a ele em sua beleza.

9Eu o fiz belo com a multidão de seus ramos; e todas as árvores do Éden, que estavam no jardim de Deus, tiveram inveja dele.

10Portanto, assim diz o Senhor DEUS: Visto que te elevaste em estatura, e seu topo se elevou no meio de ramos espessos, e seu coração se exaltou na sua altura,

11Por isso eu o entreguei na mão do mais poderoso das nações, para que o tratasse como merece; pela sua perversidade eu o lancei fora.

12Estrangeiros da mais terrivel das nações o cortaram e o deixaram; seus ramos caíram sobre os montes e por todos os vales, e seus galhos foram quebrados por todas as correntes de águas da terra; e todos os povos da terra se retiraram de sua sombra, e o deixaram.

13Todas as aves do céu habitaram sobre sua ruína, e todos os animais do campo se ficaram sobre seus ramos;

14Para que todas as árvores próximas das águas não se elevem na sua estatura, nem levantem o seu topo no meio dos ramos espessos, e que todas as que bebem águas não confiem em si mesmas por sua altura; porque todas estão entregues à morte, até debaixo da terra, no meio dos filhos dos homens, com os que vão para a cova.

15Assim diz o Senhor DEUS: No dia em que ele desceu ao Xeol, eu fiz que houvesse luto, fiz cobrir as profundezas por sua causa; detive suas correntes, e as muitas águas foram retidas; cobri o Líbano de trevas por causa dele, e por sua causa todas as árvores do campo definharam.

16Do estrondo de sua queda eu fiz tremer as nações, quando o fiz descer ao Xeol com os que descem à cova; e todas as árvores de Éden, as preferidas e melhores do Líbano, todas as que bebem águas, consolaram-se debaixo da terra.

17Também desceram com ele ao Xeol, com os mortos à espada, e os que foram seus apoiadores, os que habitavam à sua sombra no meio das nações.

18Quem se assemelha a ti em glória e em grandeza entre as árvores do Éden? Porém serás derrubado com as árvores do Éden para debaixo da terra; jazerás entre os incircuncisos, com os mortos à espada. Este é Faraó e toda a sua multidão, diz o Senhor DEUS.

📖 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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