2. “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his hordes:“‘Who are you like in your greatness?
3. Consider Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon,with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade,and extremely tall;its top reached into the clouds.
4. The water made it grow;underground springs made it grow tall.Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted,while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field.
5. Therefore it grew taller than all the trees of the field;its boughs grew large and its branches grew long,because of the plentiful water in its shoots.
6. All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs;under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth,in its shade all the great nations lived.
7. It was beautiful in its loftiness, in the length of its branches;for its roots went down deep to plentiful waters.
8. The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it,nor could the fir trees match its boughs;the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches;no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.
9. I made it beautiful with its many branches;all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it.
10. “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because it was tall in stature, and its top reached into the clouds, and it was proud of its height,
11. I gave it over to the leader of the nations. He has judged it thoroughly, as its sinfulness deserves. I have thrown it out.
12. Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land have departed from its shade and left it.
13. On its ruins all the birds of the sky will live, and all the wild animals will walk on its branches.