Ezekiel 31:1-11

In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes, ‘Whom are you like in your greatness? Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon With beautiful branches and forest shade, And very high, And its top was among the clouds. The waters made it grow, the deep made it high. With its rivers it continually extended all around its planting place, And sent out its channels to all the trees of the field. Therefore its height was loftier than all the trees of the field And its boughs became many and its branches long Because of many waters as it spread them out. All the birds of the heavens nested in its boughs, And under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth, And all great nations lived under its shade. So it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; For its roots extended to many waters. The cedars in God’s garden could not match it; The cypresses could not compare with its boughs, And the plane trees could not match its branches. No tree in God’s garden could compare with it in its beauty. I made it beautiful with the multitude of its branches, And all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God, were jealous of it. ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Because it is high in stature and has set its top among the clouds, and its heart is haughty in its loftiness, therefore I will give it into the hand of a despot of the nations; he will thoroughly deal with it. According to its wickedness I have driven it away.