31:1 十一年三月初一日，耶和華的話臨到我說：
31:2 「人子啊，你要向埃及王法老和他的眾人說：在威勢上誰能與你相比呢？
31:3 亞述王曾如黎巴嫩中的香柏樹，枝條榮美，影密如林，極其高大，樹尖插入雲中。
31:4 眾水使它生長；深水使它長大。所栽之地有江河圍流，汊出的水道延到田野諸樹。
31:5 所以他高大超過田野諸樹；發旺的時候，枝子繁多，因得大水之力枝條長長。
31:6 空中的飛鳥都在枝子上搭窩；田野的走獸都在枝條下生子；所有大國的人民都在它蔭下居住。
31:7 樹大條長，成為榮美，因為根在眾水之旁。
31:8 上帝園中的香柏樹不能遮蔽它；松樹不及它的枝子；楓樹不及它的枝條；上帝園中的樹都沒有它榮美。
31:9 我使它的枝條蕃多，成為榮美，以致上帝伊甸園中的樹都嫉妒它。」
In the eleventh year, in the third month,
on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and
to his multitude:
“Whom are you like in your greatness?
Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon,
with beautiful branches and forest shade,
and of towering height,
its top among the clouds.
The
waters nourished it;
the deep made it grow tall,
making its rivers flow
around the place of its planting,
sending forth its streams
to all the trees of the field.
So
it towered high
above all the trees of the field;
its boughs grew large
and its branches long
from abundant water in its shoots.
All the birds of the heavens
made their nests in its boughs;
under its branches all the beasts of the
field
gave birth to their young,
and under its shadow
lived all great nations.
It
was beautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its branches;
for its roots went down
to abundant waters.
The
cedars in the garden of God could not rival it,
nor the fir trees equal its boughs;
neither were the plane trees
like its branches;
no tree in the garden of God
was its equal in beauty.
I
made it beautiful
in the mass of its branches,
and all the trees of Eden envied it,
that were in the garden of God.
************
亞述帝國出由西元前900到612年，算是當時橫跨歐亞非三洲的大帝國。以西結寫這段文字時，亞述剛剛滅亡二十年左右。亞述位於兩河流域，其繁華受惠於兩大河，與埃及受惠於尼羅河類似。
雖然亞述（或埃及）生長的環境得天獨厚，所以整個勢力超過周圍列國。但是仍然敵不過巴比倫帝國，為巴比倫所打敗所滅！這也告訴猶大國的君臣百姓，他們也無法抵擋巴比倫帝國的！
這再一次告訴，人要謙卑在上帝面前，而且要信靠上帝，因為人是軟弱的，無法勝過上帝所安排的命運，是無法抵當，只有順從在上帝的大能手下，有一天上帝會高舉我們，使我們透過耶穌基督享受上帝兒女的榮耀！
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