Ezekiel 31:3

31:3 Consider Assyria, ¹  a cedar in Lebanon, ² 

with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade,

and extremely tall;

its top reached into the clouds.

Ezekiel 36:2

36:2 This is what the sovereign Lord says: The enemy has spoken against you, saying “Aha!” and, “The ancient heights ³  have become our property!”’

Ezekiel 36:17

36:17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they defiled it by their behavior ⁴  and their deeds. In my sight their behavior was like the uncleanness of a woman having her monthly period.

Ezekiel 36:35

36:35 They will say, “This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; the ruined, desolate, and destroyed cities are now fortified and inhabited.”

Ezekiel 37:1

The Valley of Dry Bones

37:1 The hand ⁵  of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and placed ⁶  me in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones.

[31:3]  ¹ sn Either Egypt, or the Lord compares Egypt to Assyria, which is described in vv. 3-17 through the metaphor of a majestic tree. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:185. Like Egypt, Assyria had been a great world power, but in time God brought the Assyrians down. Egypt should learn from history the lesson that no nation, no matter how powerful, can withstand the judgment of God. Rather than following the text here, some prefer to emend the proper name Assyria to a similar sounding common noun meaning “boxwood” (see Ezek 27:6), which would make a fitting parallel to “cedar of Lebanon” in the following line. In this case vv. 3-18 in their entirety refer to Egypt, not Assyria. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:121-27.

[31:3]  ² sn Lebanon was know for its cedar trees (Judg 9:15; 1 Kgs 4:33; 5:6; 2 Kgs 14:9; Ezra 3:7; Pss 29:5; 92:12; 104:16).

[36:2]  ³ tn Or “high places.”

[36:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “way.”

[37:1]  ⁷ tn Or “power.”

[37:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “caused me to rest.”