Single lesson
Ezekiel 31: Egypt Will Fall like Assyria
Ezekiel 31:1–18
Ezekiel 31 uses a great cedar tree to speak to Pharaoh and Egypt. The picture is beautiful and powerful, but its message is sobering: greatness that lifts itself up will be brought down by the Lord Yahweh.
Before you teach
This passage begins when Yahweh’s word comes to Ezekiel with a message for Pharaoh king of Egypt and his multitude. The message compares another great power, Assyria, to a towering cedar, then uses that picture to warn Pharaoh about pride, downfall and death.
Explain the central teaching of Ezekiel 31: Egypt Will Fall like Assyria, using two details from the reading. This passage teaches that impressive power and beauty do not prevent the Lord Yahweh from bringing down the proud.
Welcome: Ezekiel 31: Egypt Will Fall like Assyria
5 minIntroduce “Egypt Will Fall like Assyria” and locate Ezekiel 31:1–18. This passage teaches that impressive power and beauty do not prevent the Lord Yahweh from bringing down the proud. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Ezekiel 31:1, Ezekiel 31:10, Ezekiel 31:18
Read and explain the passage
12 minThe message is aimed at Pharaoh king of Egypt and his multitude, and it begins with a question about greatness. That question prepares the reader for a comparison. Pharaoh is not discussed on his own at first. Instead, the Lord points to Assyria as an example that Egypt should consider carefully.
The turning point comes when the Lord Yahweh says the tree was exalted and its heart was lifted up. Because of that, he delivers it into the hand of a mighty ruler of the nations and drives it out for wickedness. Foreigners cut it down, its branches fall, and those who once lived in its shadow leave.
The final verses describe mourning and shaking among the nations at the cedar’s fall into Sheol. Then the Lord applies the image directly to Pharaoh. He too will be brought down to the lower parts of the earth and lie among the slain. The comparison is no longer indirect. Egypt will share this humiliation.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “Egypt Will Fall like Assyria”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Ezekiel 31:1, Ezekiel 31:2, Ezekiel 31:10, Ezekiel 31:11, Ezekiel 31:12, Ezekiel 31:13, Ezekiel 31:15, Ezekiel 31:16, Ezekiel 31:17, Ezekiel 31:18
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “What details make the cedar seem great before its fall?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. This passage teaches that impressive power and beauty do not prevent the Lord Yahweh from bringing down the proud. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Ezekiel 31:3, Ezekiel 31:4, Ezekiel 31:5, Ezekiel 31:6, Ezekiel 31:8, Ezekiel 31:9, Ezekiel 31:10, Ezekiel 31:11, Ezekiel 31:18
Make and respond: Vision and message evidence map
12 minWork on “Ezekiel 31: Egypt Will Fall like Assyria: Vision and message evidence map”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “Egypt Will Fall like Assyria” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Ezekiel 31:1, Ezekiel 31:10, Ezekiel 31:18
Closing: return to Egypt Will Fall like Assyria
3 minRevisit Ezekiel 31:1–18. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about Egypt Will Fall like Assyria and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Ezekiel 31:1, Ezekiel 31:10, Ezekiel 31:18
Questions to explore
What details make the cedar seem great before its fall?
Look for the words about height, waters, branches, beauty, shelter and comparison with other trees in the garden of God.
Ezekiel 31:3, Ezekiel 31:4, Ezekiel 31:5, Ezekiel 31:6, Ezekiel 31:8, Ezekiel 31:9
According to the passage, what caused the change from greatness to judgement?
Notice the Lord’s reason in the words about being exalted in stature and having a heart lifted up, along with the mention of wickedness.
Ezekiel 31:10, Ezekiel 31:11
How does the last verse show that the cedar picture is really a warning to Egypt?
Read the closing question and the direct statement naming Pharaoh and all his multitude.
Ezekiel 31:18
Make, think or respond
Ezekiel 31: Egypt Will Fall like Assyria: Vision and message evidence map
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “What the passage describes”, “What is explained in the text”, “What question remains”.
- Read Ezekiel 31:1–18. Use “Egypt Will Fall like Assyria” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Circle an explanation the passage itself provides. Leave unexplained details as questions for further reading.
The finished sheet keeps the details of Ezekiel 31: Egypt Will Fall like Assyria connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “Egypt Will Fall like Assyria” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Ezekiel 31:1–18. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Ezekiel 31:1–18. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Ezekiel 31
1 In the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt and his multitude: ‘Whom are you like in your greatness?
3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.
4 The waters nourished it. The deep made it to grow. Its rivers ran all around its plantation. It sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.
5 Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied. Its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it spread them out.
6 All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs. Under its branches, all the animals of the field gave birth to their young. All great nations lived under its shadow.
7 Thus it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it. The cypress trees were not like its branches. The pine trees were not like its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it.’
10 “Therefore thus said the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because he is exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick branches, and his heart is lifted up in his height,
11 I will deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He will surely deal with him. I have driven him out for his wickedness.
12 Foreigners, the tyrants of the nations, have cut him off and have left him. His branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land. All the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow and have left him.
13 All the birds of the sky will dwell on his ruin, and all the animals of the field will be on his branches,
14 to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, and don’t set their top among the thick boughs. Their mighty ones don’t stand up on their height, even all who drink water; for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, among the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.’
15 “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘In the day when he went down to Sheol, I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers. The great waters were stopped. I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.
16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit. All the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth.
17 They also went down into Sheol with him to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were his arm, who lived under his shadow in the middle of the nations.
18 “ ‘To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth. You will lie in the middle of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. “ ‘This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.