3. Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon,with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest;it towered on high,its top above the thick foliage.
4. The waters nourished it,deep springs made it grow tall;their streams flowedall around its baseand sent their channelsto all the trees of the field.
5. So it towered higherthan all the trees of the field;its boughs increasedand its branches grew long,spreading because of abundant waters.
6. All the birds of the skynested in its boughs,all the wild animalsgave birth under its branches;all the great nationslived in its shade.
7. It was majestic in beauty,with its spreading boughs,for its roots went downto abundant waters.
8. The cedars in the garden of Godcould not rival it,nor could the junipersequal its boughs,nor could the plane treescompare with its branches –no tree in the garden of Godcould match its beauty.
9. I made it beautifulwith abundant branches,the envy of all the trees of Edenin the garden of God.
10. ‘ “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height,
11. I gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside,
12. and the most ruthless of foreign nations cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys; its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it.
13. All the birds settled on the fallen tree, and all the wild animals lived among its branches.
14. Therefore no other trees by the waters are ever to tower proudly on high, lifting their tops above the thick foliage. No other trees so well-watered are ever to reach such a height; they are all destined for death, for the earth below, among mortals who go down to the realm of the dead.