31In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, GOD's Message came to me:H259H6240H8141H7992H259H2320H1697H3068H5592"Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, that pompous old goat: "'Who do you, astride the world, think you really are?H1121H120H559H6547H4428H4714H1995H1819H14333Look! Assyria was a Big Tree, huge as a Lebanon cedar, beautiful limbs offering cool shade, Skyscraper high, piercing the clouds.H804H730H3844H3303H6057H6751H2793H1362H6967H6788H56884The waters gave it drink, the primordial deep lifted it high, Gushing out rivers around the place where it was planted, And then branching out in streams to all the trees in the forest.H4325H1431H8415H7311H5104H1980H5439H4302H7971H8585H6086H77045It was immense, dwarfing all the trees in the forest— Thick boughs, long limbs, roots delving deep into earth's waters.H6967H1361H6086H7704H5634H7235H6288H748H7227H4325H79716All the birds of the air nested in its boughs. All the wild animals gave birth under its branches. All the mighty nations lived in its shade.H5775H8064H7077H5589H6288H2416H7704H3205H6738H3427H7227H14717It was stunning in its majesty— the reach of its branches! the depth of its water-seeking roots!H3302H1433H753H1808H8328H7227H43258Not a cedar in God's garden came close to it. No pine tree was anything like it. Mighty oaks looked like bushes growing alongside it. Not a tree in God's garden was in the same class of beauty.H730H1588H430H6004H1265H1819H5589H6196H6288H6086H1588H430H1819H33089I made it beautiful, a work of art in limbs and leaves, The envy of every tree in Eden, every last tree in God's garden.'"H6213H3303H7230H1808H6086H5731H1588H430H706510Therefore, GOD, the Master, says, "'Because it skyscrapered upwards, piercing the clouds, swaggering and proud of its stature,H559H136H3069H1361H6967H5414H6788H5688H3824H7311H136311I turned it over to a world-famous leader to call its evil to account. I'd had enough.H5414H3027H410H1471H6213H6213H1644H756212Outsiders, unbelievably brutal, felled it across the mountain ranges. Its branches were strewn through all the valleys, its leafy boughs clogging all the streams and rivers. Because its shade was gone, everybody walked off. No longer a tree—just a log.H2114H6184H1471H3772H5203H2022H1516H1808H5307H6288H7665H650H776H5971H776H3381H6738H520313On that dead log birds perch. Wild animals burrow under it.H4658H5775H8064H7931H2416H7704H628814"'That marks the end of the "big tree" nations. No more trees nourished from the great deep, no more cloud-piercing trees, no more earth- born trees taking over. They're all slated for death—back to earth, right along with men and women, for whom it's "dust to dust."H6086H4325H1361H6967H5414H6788H5688H352H5975H1363H8354H4325H5414H4194H8482H776H8432H1121H120H3381H95315"'The Message of GOD, the Master: On the day of the funeral of the Big Tree, I threw the great deep into mourning. I stopped the flow of its rivers, held back great seas, and wrapped the Lebanon mountains in black. All the trees of the forest fainted and fell.H559H136H3069H3117H3381H7585H56H3680H8415H4513H5104H7227H4325H3607H3844H6937H6086H7704H596916I made the whole world quake when it crashed, and threw it into the underworld to take its place with all else that gets buried. All the trees of Eden and the finest and best trees of Lebanon, well-watered, were relieved—H1471H7493H6963H4658H3381H7585H3381H953H6086H5731H4005H2896H3844H8354H4325H5162H8482H77617they had descended to the underworld with it—along with everyone who had lived in its shade and all who had been killed.H3381H7585H2491H2719H2220H3427H6738H8432H147118"'Which of the trees of Eden came anywhere close to you in splendor and size? But you're slated to be cut down to take your place in the underworld with the trees of Eden, to be a dead log stacked with all the other dead logs, among the other uncircumcised who are dead and buried. "'This means Pharaoh, the pompous old goat. "'Decree of GOD, the Master.'"H1819H3519H1433H6086H5731H3381H6086H5731H8482H776H7901H8432H6189H2491H2719H6547H1995H5002H136H3069
The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.
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