Ezekiel 31:3–9

³Think about what happened to Assyria.

Once it was like a cedar tree in Lebanon.

It had beautiful branches

that provided shade for the forest.

It grew very high.

Its top was above all of the leaves.

⁴The waters fed it.

Deep springs made it grow tall.

Their streams flowed

all around its base.

They made their way

to all of the trees in the fields.

⁵So it grew higher

than any other tree in the fields.

It grew more limbs.

Its branches grew long.

They spread because they had plenty of water.

⁶All of the birds of the air

made their nests in its limbs.

All of the wild animals

had their babies under its branches.

All of the great nations

lived in its shade.

⁷Its spreading branches

made it majestic and beautiful.

Its roots went down deep

to where there was plenty of water.

⁸The cedar trees in my garden

were no match for it.

The pine trees

could not equal its limbs.

The plane trees

could not compare with its branches.

No tree in my garden

could match its beauty.

⁹I gave it many branches.

They made it beautiful.

All of the trees in my Garden of Eden

were jealous of it.’ ”