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Ezekiel 31:12

in Ezekiel 31

Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.

KJV

And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.

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This verse in Ezekiel 31

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

He must leave the king of Egypt to apply all this to himself, to see his own face in the looking-glass of the king of Assyria's sin, and to foresee his own fall through the perspective glass of his ruin,

This site's exposition

the most ruthless of the nations

on Ezekiel 31:12-14

Strangers, the terrible of the nations, cut him down, and his branches lie broken by every river of the land he once shadowed. Verse 14 turns the fall into a standing warning, language JFB reads as aimed past Assyria at every power that measures itself by its resources.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Chapter 31.) And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his people: Whom are you like in your greatness? Behold, Assyria was like a cedar (or cypress) in Lebanon, beautiful in branches and dense with foliage, towering in height, and its top was among the thick foliage (or in the midst of clouds).

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

into the hands of the strongest of nations into the hands of the harshest of nations; I gave him into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, as the master said (Seder Olam, ch.; Meg. 11b; Arachin 12a): In his first year, he conquered Nineveh.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 31:11:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Upon its carcass..rested as the Targum paraphrases: Upon the carcass of his slain.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 31:13:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

22 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיִּכְרְתֻ֧הוּand they cut down it

    vaiyikhretuhuH3772 →288 times

  • זָרִ֛יםstrangers

    zarimH2114 →77 times

  • עָרִיצֵ֥יruthless [ones] of

    ʾaritzeiH6184 →20 times

  • גוֹיִ֖םnations

    goyimH1471 →561 times

  • וַֽיִּטְּשֻׁ֑הוּand they abandoned it

    vaiyiteshuhuH5203 →40 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הֶ֠הָרִיםthe mountains

    heharimH2022 →546 times

  • וּבְכָל־and in all

    uvekhol-H3605 →5413 times

  • גֵּ֨אָי֜וֹת[the] valleys

    geayotH1516 →59 times

  • נָפְל֣וּthey fell

    nafeluH5307 →435 times

  • דָלִיּוֹתָ֗יוbranches its

    daliyotavH1808 →8 times

  • וַתִּשָּׁבַ֤רְנָהand they were broken

    vatishavarnahH7665 →147 times

  • פֹֽארֹתָיו֙branches its

    forotavH6288 →7 times

  • בְּכֹל֙in all

    bekholH3605 →5413 times

  • אֲפִיקֵ֣י[the] ravines of

    ʾafikeiH650 →19 times

  • הָאָ֔רֶץthe land

    haaretzH776 →2504 times

  • וַיֵּרְד֧וּand they went down

    vaiyereduH3381 →381 times

  • מִצִּלּ֛וֹfrom shade its

    mitziloH6738 →49 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • עַמֵּ֥י[the] peoples of

    ʾameiH5971 →1873 times

  • הָאָ֖רֶץthe earth

    haaretzH776 →2504 times

  • וַֽיִּטְּשֻֽׁהוּ׃and they abandoned it

    vaiyiteshuhuH5203 →40 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

17 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Ezekiel 28:7behold, I will bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and will defile your splendor.6 worksEzekiel 35:8I will fill its mountains with the slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines.5 worksEzekiel 30:11He and his people with him, the most ruthless of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.3 worksNahum 3:17–18Your guards are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts that settle on the walls on a cold day. When the sun rises, they fly away, and no one knows where.3 worksHabakkuk 1:6For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.3 worksEzekiel 32:5I will put your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with your remains.3 works
The other 11 cross-references, with their words ▾
Ezekiel 32:12I will make your hordes fall by the swords of the mighty, the most ruthless of all nations. They will ravage the pride of Egypt and all her multitudes will be destroyed.2 worksEzekiel 39:4On the mountains of Israel you will fall—you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to every kind of ravenous bird and wild beast.2 worksEzekiel 32:4–5I will abandon you on the land and hurl you into the open field. I will cause all the birds of the air to settle upon you, and all the beasts of the earth to eat their fill of you.2 worksEzekiel 35:5Because you harbored an ancient hatred and delivered the Israelites over to the sword in the time of their disaster at the final stage of their punishment,2 worksDaniel 4:12–14Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and upon it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, in its branches the birds of the air nested, and from it every creature was fed.2 worksHabakkuk 1:11Then they sweep by like the wind and pass on through. They are guilty; their own strength is their god.”2 worksIsaiah 34:5–7When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, then it will come down upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.2 worksRevelation 17:16And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.2 worksIsaiah 21:1This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.2 worksEzekiel 30:12I will make the streams dry up and sell the land to the wicked. By the hands of foreigners I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it. I, the LORD, have spoken.2 worksEzekiel 29:11No foot of man or beast will pass through, and it will be uninhabited for forty years.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 28:7

    behold, I will bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and will defile your splendor.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 32:12

      I will make your hordes fall by the swords of the mighty, the most ruthless of all nations. They will ravage the pride of Egypt and all her multitudes will be destroyed.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ezekiel 30:11

      He and his people with him, the most ruthless of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.

  • Through

    Habakkuk 1:6

    For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 24:2

      And the LORD sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim in order to destroy Judah, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through His servants the prophets.

    • 2 Chronicles 36:17

      So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God…

    • 2 Chronicles 36:6

      Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jehoiakim and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.

    • Jeremiah 5:15

      Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. “It is an established nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose…

    • Isaiah 23:13

      Look at the land of the Chaldeans—a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to…

  • Through

    Ezekiel 30:11

    He and his people with him, the most ruthless of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 28:7

      behold, I will bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of nations. They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and will defile your splendor.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel: the study guide →Read Ezekiel 31 →

This page draws on Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel and Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ezekiel 31 →