Behold renders the emphatic Hebrew word hinneh. Here it introduces a comparison. New Jerusalem Bible renders it “I know.” It may also be translated “Well.”

I will liken you to a cedar in Lebanon: In Hebrew this clause is literally “Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon” (New King James Version , New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version). Some translations find it strange that Assyria, a nation recently defeated and destroyed, is mentioned in a prophecy against Egypt and change the text to delete it (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, Christian Community Bible, Moffatt). Although Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends this approach, it is not necessary, and most translations retain “Assyria” as the point of comparison for the fate of Egypt. Assyria had been the dominant power in the ancient Near East for over 300 years until the fall of Nineveh in 610 B.C., about 23 years before the date of this prophecy. As such, it was an ideal and familiar example of a country that had been very powerful but then had fallen and was completely destroyed. The best models for the beginning of this verse are “You are as Assyria was—a great and mighty nation. Assyria, too, was once like a cedar of Lebanon” (New Living Translation [1996]) and “Think about what happened to Assyria. Once it was like a cedar tree in Lebanon” (New International Reader’s Version). For a cedar in Lebanon, see the comments on 17.3. This phrase may be rendered “a tree called cedar in the mountain range of Lebanon.” Since what is important here is that cedars were large and beautiful, translators may begin this verse with “You are like Assyria was, a beautiful and strong tree called cedar that grows in the Lebanon Mountains.”

With fair branches and forest shade: The branches of cedar trees are thick and lush, and they make plenty of shade on the ground below. Good News Translation says “With beautiful, shady branches.”

And of great height, its top among the clouds: The cedar tree is also very tall, so tall, in fact, that it appears to reach the clouds (compare Contemporary English Version “the sky”). Instead of clouds, some translations take the Hebrew word here to mean “thick foliage” (New International Version; similarly Revised English Bible) with the meaning that the tree here was so tall that its top was poking out “above all of the leaves” (New International Reader’s Version). Although Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says that either interpretation is acceptable, “thick boughs” is more faithful to the Hebrew, so we prefer it (see 19.11 for comments on a very similar passage). A model for this part of the verse is “it was so tall that its top was pushing through all the leaves [of the forest].”

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 .