Isaiah 10:18

10:18 The splendor of his forest and his orchard

will be completely destroyed, ¹ 

as when a sick man’s life ebbs away. ² 

Isaiah 14:8

14:8 The evergreens also rejoice over your demise, ³ 

as do the cedars of Lebanon, singing, ⁴ 

‘Since you fell asleep, ⁵ 

no woodsman comes up to chop us down!’ ⁶ 

Ezekiel 31:3-18

31:3 Consider Assyria, ⁷  a cedar in Lebanon, ⁸ 

with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade,

and extremely tall;

its top reached into the clouds.

31:4 The water made it grow;

underground springs made it grow tall.

Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted,

while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field. ⁹ 

31:5 Therefore it grew taller than all the trees of the field;

its boughs grew large and its branches grew long,

because of the plentiful water in its shoots. ¹⁰ 

31:6 All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs;

under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth,

in its shade all the great ¹¹  nations lived.

31:7 It was beautiful in its loftiness, in the length of its branches;

for its roots went down deep to plentiful waters.

31:8 The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it,

nor could the fir trees ¹²  match its boughs;

the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches;

no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.

31:9 I made it beautiful with its many branches;

all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it.

31:10 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because it was tall in stature, and its top reached into the clouds, and it was proud of its height, 31:11 I gave it over to the leader of the nations. He has judged it thoroughly, ¹³  as its sinfulness deserves. I have thrown it out. 31:12 Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land ¹⁴  have departed ¹⁵  from its shade and left it. 31:13 On its ruins all the birds of the sky will live, and all the wild animals ¹⁶  will walk ¹⁷  on its branches. 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. ¹⁸  For all of them have been appointed to die in the lower parts of the earth; ¹⁹  they will be among mere mortals, ²⁰  with those who descend to the pit.

31:15 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day it ²¹  went down to Sheol I caused observers to lament. ²²  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. ²³  Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, all that were well-watered, were comforted in the earth below. 31:17 Those who lived in its shade, its allies ²⁴  among the nations, also went down with it to Sheol, to those killed by the sword. 31:18 Which of the trees of Eden was like you in majesty and loftiness? You will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword! This is what will happen to Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Daniel 4:8-14

4:8 Later Daniel entered (whose name is Belteshazzar after the name of my god, ²⁵  and in whom there is a spirit of the holy gods). I recounted the dream for him as well, 4:9 saying, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, in whom I know there to be a spirit of the holy gods and whom no mystery baffles, consider ²⁶  my dream that I saw and set forth its interpretation! 4:10 Here are the visions of my mind ²⁷  while I was on my bed.

While I was watching,

there was a tree in the middle of the land. ²⁸ 

It was enormously tall. ²⁹ 

4:11 The tree grew large and strong.

Its top reached far into the sky;

it could be seen ³⁰  from the borders of all the land. ³¹ 

4:12 Its foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful;

on it there was food enough for all.

Under it the wild animals ³²  used to seek shade,

and in its branches the birds of the sky used to nest.

All creatures ³³  used to feed themselves from it.

4:13 While I was watching in my mind’s visions ³⁴  on my bed,

a holy sentinel ³⁵  came down from heaven.

4:14 He called out loudly ³⁶  as follows: ³⁷ 

‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches!

Strip off its foliage

and scatter its fruit!

Let the animals flee from under it

and the birds from its branches!

Daniel 4:20-22

4:20 The tree that you saw that grew large and strong, whose top reached to the sky, and which could be seen ³⁸  in all the land, 4:21 whose foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful, and from which there was food available for all, under whose branches wild animals ³⁹  used to live, and in whose branches birds of the sky used to nest – 4:22 it is you, ⁴⁰  O king! For you have become great and strong. Your greatness is such that it reaches to heaven, and your authority to the ends of the earth.

Zechariah 11:1-2

The History and Future of Judah’s Wicked Kings

11:1 Open your gates, Lebanon,

so that the fire may consume your cedars. ⁴¹ 

11:2 Howl, fir tree,

because the cedar has fallen;

the majestic trees have been destroyed.

Howl, oaks of Bashan,

because the impenetrable forest has fallen.

[10:18]  ¹ tn Heb “from breath to flesh it will destroy.” The expression “from breath to flesh” refers to the two basic components of a person, the immaterial (life’s breath) and the material (flesh). Here the phrase is used idiomatically to indicate totality.

[10:18]  ² tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. מָסַס (masas), which is used elsewhere of substances dissolving or melting, may here mean “waste away” or “despair.” נָסַס (nasas), which appears only here, may mean “be sick” or “stagger, despair.” See BDB 651 s.v. I נָסַס and HALOT 703 s.v. I נסס. One might translate the line literally, “like the wasting away of one who is sick” (cf. NRSV “as when an invalid wastes away”).

[14:8]  ³ tn Heb “concerning you.”

[14:8]  ⁴ tn The word “singing” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Note that the personified trees speak in the second half of the verse.

[14:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “lay down” (in death); cf. NAB “laid to rest.”

[14:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “the [wood]cutter does not come up against us.”

[31:3]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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).

[31:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “Waters made it grow; the deep made it grow tall. It (the deep) was flowing with its rivers around the place it (the tree) was planted, it (the deep) sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.”

[31:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “when it sends forth.” Repointing the consonants of the Masoretic text would render the proposed reading “shoots” (cf. NRSV).

[31:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “many.”

[31:8]  ¹² tn Or “cypress trees” (cf. NASB, NLT); NIV “pine trees.”

[31:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “acting he has acted with regard to it.” The infinitive absolute precedes the main verb to emphasize the certainty and decisiveness of the action depicted.

[31:12]  ¹⁴ tn Or “earth” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[31:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “gone down.”

[31:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the beasts of the field,” referring to wild as opposed to domesticated animals.

[31:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “be.”

[31:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and they will not stand to them in their height, all the drinkers of water.”

[31:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for death, to the lower earth.”

[31:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the sons of men.”

[31:15]  ²¹ tn Or “he.”

[31:15]  ²² 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]  ²³ sn For the expression “going down to the pit,” see Ezek 26:20; 32:18, 24, 29.

[31:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “its arm.”

[4:8]  ²⁵ sn This explanation of the meaning of the name Belteshazzar may be more of a paronomasia than a strict etymology.

[4:9]  ²⁶ tc The present translation assumes the reading חֲזִי (khazi, “consider”) rather than the MT חֶזְוֵי (khezvey, “visions”). The MT implies that the king required Daniel to disclose both the dream and its interpretation, as in chapter 2. But in the following verses Nebuchadnezzar recounts his dream, while Daniel presents only its interpretation.

[4:10]  ²⁷ tc The LXX lacks the first two words (Aram “the visions of my head”) of the Aramaic text.

[4:10]  ²⁸ tn Instead of “in the middle of the land,” some English versions render this phrase “a tree at the center of the earth” (NRSV); NAB, CEV “of the world”; NLT “in the middle of the earth.” The Hebrew phrase can have either meaning.

[4:10]  ²⁹ tn Aram “its height was great.”

[4:11]  ³⁰ tn Aram “its sight.” So also v. 17.

[4:11]  ³¹ tn Or “to the end of all the earth” (so KJV, ASV); NCV, CEV “from anywhere on earth.”

[4:12]  ³² tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”

[4:12]  ³³ tn Aram “all flesh.”

[4:13]  ³⁴ tn Aram “the visions of my head.”

[4:13]  ³⁵ tn Aram “a watcher and a holy one.” The expression is a hendiadys; so also in v. 23. This “watcher” is apparently an angel. The Greek OT (LXX) in fact has ἄγγελος (angelo", “angel”) here. Theodotion simply transliterates the Aramaic word (’ir). The term is sometimes rendered “sentinel” (NAB) or “messenger” (NIV, NLT).

[4:14]  ³⁶ tn Aram “in strength.”

[4:14]  ³⁷ tn Aram “and thus he was saying.”

[4:20]  ³⁸ tn Aram “its sight.”

[4:21]  ³⁹ tn Aram “the beasts of the field” (also in vv. 23, 25, 32).

[4:22]  ⁴⁰ sn Much of modern scholarship views this chapter as a distortion of traditions that were originally associated with Nabonidus rather than with Nebuchadnezzar. A Qumran text, the Prayer of Nabonidus, is often cited for parallels to these events.

[11:1]  ⁴¹ sn In this poetic section, plants and animals provide the imagery for rulers, especially evil ones (cf. respectively Isa 10:33-34; Ezek 31:8; Amos 2:9; Nah 2:12).