All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to lofty height or set their tops among the clouds, and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height: The reason God condemned the cedar tree to be chopped down was as a warning for other trees, so that no other tree would ever grow so tall. Of course, this sentence continues the picture language of the cedar tree standing for Assyria, in which trees that grow very tall stand for proud and arrogant people. All this is in order that (also New Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version) introduces the reason here clearly. Other ways of making the connection are “So that” (New King James Version , New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “to the end that” (King James Version), and “And so from now on” (Good News Translation). Translators may need to make God specifically the agent by saying “I did this so that.” Trees by the waters and trees that drink water are “well-watered trees” (Revised English Bible, Christian Community Bible), “trees that receive plenty of water” (New International Reader’s Version). For the Hebrew phrase rendered grow to lofty height, see the comments on Ezek 31.5, where is its translated “towered high.” For set their tops among the clouds, see verses 3 and 10, where the same problem concerning the Hebrew word for clouds occurs. Reach up to them in height repeats the idea of the previous two clauses of trees growing so tall that they reach an immense height (compare New International Reader’s Version “grow that high” and New Century Version “grow that tall”). The first half of this verse may be shortened a little by saying “I did this so that from now on no tree will grow so tall or let its top reach above the foliage of the other trees, no matter how well they are watered.”

For they are given over to death refers to what will happen to all trees, namely, they will die. But it is not just a matter of fate; it is because God has decided this will happen. Contemporary English Version says “Every tree must die,” New International Reader’s Version has “They are appointed to die,” New Century Version translates “because they are all meant to die,” and Christian Community Bible uses “For all are destined to die.”

To the nether world among mortal men, with those who go down to the Pit: The nether world and the Pit refer to the place where the dead are (see the comments on 26.20). New Jerusalem Bible says “the underworld,” and Good News Translation has “the world of the dead.” In the place of the dead the trees will be among mortal men (compare Good News Translation “like mortals”). These phrases show that, however tall the trees grow and however great they are, they will die and end up just like ordinary human beings.

In the last half of this verse the picture of the cedar tree as Assyria becomes strained, since the trees are compared with the people who have died. Translators may need to provide some help for readers to follow this connection. A model for this is:

• For it is determined [or, I have decided] that all those trees will die. They will go down into the world of the dead along with the dead people. Those trees are like proud people who die and go into the underworld.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .