5. So that tree was taller than all the other trees of the field, and it grew many branches. There was plenty of water, so the tree branches spread out.
6. All the birds of the sky made their nests in the branches of that tree, and all the animals of the field gave birth under the branches of that tree. All the great nations lived under the shade of that tree.
7. The tree was very beautiful. It was so large! It had such long branches. Its roots had plenty of water.
8. Even the cedar trees in God’s garden were not as big as this tree. Cypress trees did not have as many branches. Plane trees did not have such branches. No tree in God’s garden was as beautiful as this tree.
9. I gave it many branches and made it beautiful. And all the trees in Eden, God’s garden, were jealous!’”
10. So this is what the Lord GOD says: “That tree grew tall. Its top reached up to the clouds. It grew so big that it became proud!
11. So I let a powerful king have that tree. That ruler punished the tree for the bad things it did. I took that tree out of my garden.
12. Strangers—the most terrible people in the world—cut it down and scattered its branches on the mountains and in the valleys. Its broken limbs drifted down the rivers flowing through that land. There was no more shadow under that tree, so all the people left.