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Ezekiel 31:4

in Ezekiel 31

The waters made it grow; the deep springs made it tall, directing their streams all around its base and sending their channels to all the trees of the field.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

The waters nourished it, the deep made it to grow: the rivers thereof ran round about its plantation; and it sent out its channels unto all the trees of the field.

KJV

The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.

This verse in Ezekiel 31

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The waters made him great - Alluding to the fertility of Egypt by the overflowing of the Nile. But waters often mean peoples. By means of the different nations under the Egyptians, that government became very opulent. These nations are represented as fowls and beasts, taking shelter under the protection of this great political Egyptian tree, Eze 31:6.

This site's exposition

a cedar in Lebanon

on Ezekiel 31:3-6

Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, fed by waters that ran to every tree of the field. Gill and Clarke both take the image from Assyria's river-fed empire, the Tigris standing behind the waters that made him great. The allegory is chosen because Egypt's own strength runs on a river.

This site's exposition

the deep springs made it tall

The deep translates tehom, the word for the great waters of Genesis 1:2. The tree owes its height to a gift. Its channels running out to the other trees picture an empire whose wealth flowed on to the nations beneath it.

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 Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

20 ), they would be serviceable and faithful to him. Those that have wealth flowing upon them in great rivers find themselves obliged to send it out again in little rivers; for, as goods are increased, those are increased that eat them, and the more men have the more occasion they have for it; yea, and still the more they have occasion for.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens

The waters made him great,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

waters . . . little rivers--the Tigris with its branches and "rivulets," or "conduits" for irrigation, the source of Assyria's fertility. "The deep" is the ever flowing water, never dry. Metaphorically, for Assyria's resources, as the "conduits" are her colonies.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The words behind it

16 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.

  • מַ֣יִםwaters

    mayimH4325 →581 times

  • גִּדְּל֔וּהוּthey made grow it

    gideluhuH1431 →117 times

  • תְּה֖וֹם[the] deep

    tehomH8415 →36 times

  • רֹֽמְמָ֑תְהוּit raised up it

    romematehuH7311 →190 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • נַהֲרֹתֶ֗יהָrivers its

    naharoteihaH5104 →119 times

  • הֹלֵךְ֙going

    holekhH1980 →1546 times

  • סְבִיב֣וֹתaround

    sevivotH5439 →336 times

  • מַטָּעָ֔הּplanting place its

    mataahH4302 →6 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • תְּעָלֹתֶ֣יהָchannels its

    tealoteihaH8585 →

  • שִׁלְחָ֔הit sent out

    shilchahH7971 →845 times

  • אֶ֖לto

    ʾelH413 →5510 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • עֲצֵ֥י[the] trees of

    ʾatzeiH6086 →328 times

  • הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃the field

    hasadehH7704 →334 times

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

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

    Revelation 17:1

    Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 51:13

      You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Revelation 19:2

      For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her…

    • Revelation 17:1–17

      Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.

    • Revelation 16:19

      The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. And God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup of the wine of the fury of His…

    • Revelation 21:9

      Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

  • Through

    Revelation 17:15

    Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 17:1

      Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.

  • Through

    Proverbs 14:28

    A large population is a king’s splendor, but a lack of subjects is a prince’s ruin.

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 4:20–21

      The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and they were eating and drinking and rejoicing.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 17:5

    He took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil; he placed it by abundant waters and set it out like a willow.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 8:7–9

      For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills;

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.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.