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31 ‎[1] **It was in the eleventh year. **In the book of Ezekiel, the years are generally counted from the exile of Yehoyakhin and the reign of Tzidkiyahu. If so, the eleventh is the year of the destruction of Jerusalem. It was in that year, **in the third month, **Sivan, **on the first of the month; the word of the Lord was with me, saying: **
‎[2] **Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his horde.** Do not address this prophecy only to Pharaoh, the private individual, but also to him in his role as the ruler of the oldest and greatest power at that time:** To whom were you likened in your greatness? **
‎[3] **Behold, Assyria,**** **the great empire from earlier times, to which you bear a great resemblance,** was a cedar in Lebanon, **the tallest and strongest tree in the region, **fair **and magnificent **of branches, a shading thicket. **It was** **a single tree that provided shade like a small forest, **and **it was **tall of stature, and among the tangled branches was its top; **alternatively, its top was among the clouds.
‎[4] **Water nourished it, **the** **waters of the **depths elevated it, its rivers, **the mighty streams of the deep,** flowed around its grove, **the cedar, **and its tributaries, it, **the deep,** sent **out** to all the **other **trees of the field, **around the cedar.
‎[5] **Therefore its, **the cedar’s,** stature grew higher **(see 36:5)** than all the trees of the field, and its boughs multiplied, and its branches lengthened, **became entwined and magnificent (see commentary on 17:6)**, from the abundant water, when it, **the cedar,** generated them. **The increased growth of the cedar was caused by continuous, intense irrigation. Similarly, Assyria’s growth was due to its conquests and subjugation of many nations, and its seizure and control of their resources.** **
‎[6] **In its, **the cedar’s, **boughs all the birds of the heavens nested, and beneath its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth, and in its shade all the many nations dwelled.** Assyria spread its protection over many nations and kingdoms. Note that by mentioning nations in this last phrase, the prophet momentarily returned to the meaning of the allegory.** **
‎[7] **It**, the cedar,** became beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches **that extended for great distances, **as its roots were **planted **upon abundant waters. **
‎[8] **Cedars did not obscure it, **that impressive cedar,** in the garden of God; **the towering** junipers**** **in the Lebanon** did not compare to its boughs, and plane trees,**** **also tall trees with many boughs,** were not like, **the** **equivalent of,** its branches; every tree in the garden of God did not compare to it in its beauty. **It had no rival in strength or splendor.
‎[9] **I made it beautiful in the multitude of its branches, and all the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God envied it. **Assyria developed into a strong, magnificent power, without equal in all lands.
‎[10] **Therefore, so said the Lord God **to the cedar, Assyria:** Because you grew high in stature, and it, **the tree,** placed its crown among the tangled branches, and its heart grew haughty because of its height, **it will therefore receive the punishment described in the following verses.** **Assyria had grown at the expense of other nations, while boasting of its immense power. This is evident from the oration delivered by Sennacherib’s emissary, Rabshakeh, with his depictions of Assyria’s extensive conquests and victories.
‎[11] **I delivered it, **Assyria,** into the hand of the mightiest of the nations [*****eil goyim*****]. ***Eil goyim*, which literally means “ram of nations”* *might be alluding to an iron battering ram that was used for breaching the walls of an enemy city. **It, **the mighty one of the nations, **did to it in accordance with its wickedness; I banished it, **Assyria.** **
‎[12] Furthermore,** strangers, the ruthless of the nations, cut it down, **scattering the fallen tree.** **Like the cedar, Assyria did not entirely collapse after its fall, until the cruel Chaldeans destroyed it to its foundations.** And **they** cast it upon the mountains and in all valleys; its branches fell and its boughs broke in all the **water **channels of the earth, and all the peoples of the earth, **who had formerly enjoyed its protection,** went out from its shade and abandoned it; **
‎[13] **on its fallen trunk**,** all the birds of the heavens **which had previously nested high up in the tree, **rest, and upon its branches were all the beasts of the field. **
‎[14] I cast the cedar down **so that all the trees **that are planted **by the water will not grow high in their stature and will not place their crown among the tangled branches, and all that drink water will not reach up to them [*****eleihem*****]** **in their height.** According to this reading of the verse, the word is understood as though it were *aleihem*, “to them.” In contrast, according to the accepted vocalization of the word, *eleihem*, some maintain that this means “their terebinth [*ela*] trees,” which represent the trees of the field. **As they are all given to death, to the nether land, among the children of man, with those who descend into the pit. **The grand, mighty tree fell and disappeared. Likewise, even great and powerful kings will eventually meet eternal ruin.
‎[15] **So said the Lord God: On the day that it, **the huge cedar tree,** descended to the netherworld, I caused mourning, **or I destroyed it; **I covered the depths for it, and I restrained its rivers, and the great waters were withheld **in the deep, **and I darkened Lebanon for, **because of, **it, and all the trees of the field grew faint over it, **as they became aware of the fate of the enormous cedar tree; they became mindful that the source of their vitality had dried.
‎[16] **From the sound of its fall, I caused the nations to quake, when I brought it down to the netherworld with those who descend into the pit, and all the trees of Eden **that had been felled,** the choicest and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were consoled in the nether land. **
‎[17] **They, too, **the trees, the nations that took refuge under the patronage of the cedar, Assyria,** descended with it to the netherworld, to those slain by the sword, and its arm, **those **who** attached themselves to the Assyrian kingdom,** dwelled in its shade, among the nations. **
‎[18] Having finished his account of the earlier fall of Assyria, the prophet once again turns his attention to Pharaoh: **To whom were you so likened in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden, **that is, Assyria? **You **too **will be brought down **together **to the nether land with the trees of Eden; you will lie among the **contemptible **uncircumcised **(see 28:10), **with those slain by the sword. It is Pharaoh and all his horde – the utterance of the Lord God. **Pharaoh and his people will share the fate of Assyria; they too will perish like other mighty empires.
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center