Yehezkiel 31:14-16

31:14 For this reason no watered trees will grow so tall; their tops will not reach into the clouds, nor will the well-watered ones grow that high. ¹  For all of them have been appointed to die in the lower parts of the earth; ²  they will be among mere mortals, ³  with those who descend to the pit.

31:15 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day it ⁴  went down to Sheol I caused observers to lament. ⁵  I covered it with the deep and held back its rivers; its plentiful water was restrained. I clothed Lebanon in black for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it. 31:16 I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I threw it down to Sheol, along with those who descend to the pit. ⁶  Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, all that were well-watered, were comforted in the earth below.

[31:14]  ¹ tn Heb “and they will not stand to them in their height, all the drinkers of water.”

[31:14]  ² tn Heb “for death, to the lower earth.”

[31:14]  ³ tn Heb “the sons of men.”

[31:15]  ⁴ tn Or “he.”

[31:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “I caused lamentation.” D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 2:194-95) proposes an alternative root which would give the meaning “I gated back the waters,” i.e., shut off the water supply.

[31:16]  ⁶ sn For the expression “going down to the pit,” see Ezek 26:20; 32:18, 24, 29.