Thus says the Lord GOD: This traditional prophetic formula is repeated as the prophecy against the large cedar tree comes to a climax (see the comments on verse 10).

When it goes down to Sheol refers to the cedar tree dying and going down to the place of the dead. Sheol is the place where the Hebrews believed that dead people went to, although sometimes it can mean “the grave” (New International Reader’s Version, King James Version). It is not the same as the Christian concept of “hell” (New King James Version ) and should not be translated as that. Here Sheol may be rendered “the world of the dead” (Good News Translation), “where the dead are” (International Children’s Bible), or “the underworld.”

I will make the deep mourn for it: For the deep, see Ezek 31.4. Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint here instead of the Hebrew text, which is literally “I caused to mourn, I covered the deep/great ocean over it.” The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. Only a few translations try to render it as it stands; for example, International Children’s Bible says “I made people cry loudly. I covered the deep springs,” and New King James Version has “I caused mourning. I covered the deep because of it” (similarly King James Version). The Hebrew expression for “I covered the deep over it” can mean either that God made the underground water flow over the cedar tree and submerge it (so Good News Translation, which renders both clauses here as “I will make the underground waters cover it as a sign of mourning”), or that God covered the underground water with something because of the death of the tree (so New International Version with “I covered the deep springs with mourning for it”).

Other translations take a different approach to this part of the verse. Some take the Hebrew root of the first verb to mean “dry up” instead of mourn; for example, New International Reader’s Version says “On that day I dried up the deep springs of water and covered them.” However, this sense of the verb is so rare that it is best not to use it. Some relate this verb to a similar word in Aramaic and Akkadian that means “gate” and as a verb “shut like a gate”; for example, New English Bible says “I closed the deep over him as a gate” (similarly New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and Block has “I shut off [the water supply], and I covered it with the deep.” This meaning is basically guesswork. Still others omit the second Hebrew verb “covered” (so Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, Christian Community Bible, Moffatt, Septuagint), which results in the sense that God made the underground ocean mourn for the fallen cedar tree; for example, Christian Community Bible says “I made the depths mourn for it,” and New Living Translation has “I made the deep springs mourn.” However, there is no textual reason to omit this word (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project), and a reasonable meaning can be found for this part of the verse in Hebrew, as the following model of the second sentence of this verse shows:

• When that cedar tree went down to the place of the dead, I caused there to be mourning [or, I made the world/people cry and weep]. I covered the underground ocean [with mourning] for it [or, I made the underground ocean mourn for it].

And restrain its rivers refers to God making the streams of the underground ocean stop flowing. These rivers were the currents of water that watered the cedar tree while it was growing (see Ezek 31.4). New Living Translation renders this clause as “I held its streams back” (similarly New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Translators may say “I stopped the streams under the earth from flowing.”

And many waters shall be stopped refers to God stopping the flow of the abundant water that had made the tree grow its long, beautiful branches (see verses 5 and 7). New International Reader’s Version says “I shut off its rich supply of water,” and New Century Version has “and the great waters stopped flowing.”

I will clothe Lebanon in gloom for it: Good News Translation says “I will bring darkness over the Lebanon Mountains.” Although the Hebrew verb rendered clothe … in darkness basically refers to physical darkness (compare 32.7-8), here it carries the sense of mourning, so Contemporary English Version says “The mountains in Lebanon will be covered with darkness as a sign of their sorrow.” New Living Translation has “I clothed Lebanon in black,” which personifies Lebanon and effectively combines the physical sense of darkness with the Western custom of dressing in black while in mourning. Translators are encouraged to find similar effective means to convey both senses. For Lebanon see Ezek 31.3. For it means “because of the death of the cedar tree,” as in the first half of the verse.

And all the trees of the field shall faint because of it: God continues to personify nature, here the trees of the field, that is, all the trees in the bush (see Ezek 31.4 and 17.24), saying that they felt faint, as people do when they hear that someone has died. If it is unnatural in a language to personify trees in this way, terms for faint that are more appropriate to trees may be used, for example, “wilt” (New Living Translation, New King James Version , New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible), “wither” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version), “dry up” (New International Reader’s Version, International Children’s Bible), and “droop” (New American Bible, Moffatt). Because of it means “because of the death of the cedar tree.”

The second half of this verse may be translated as follows:

• I stopped the rivers under the earth from flowing; I stopped the streams that watered the tree from flowing. The mountains of Lebanon were covered in darkness as they mourned for the cedar tree. The trees lost their strength because of it.

In Hebrew the tenses of the verbs in this verse are all past. Most translations render them like that, but Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and Contemporary English Version use the future to show that the events had not yet happened (see the comments on verses 11-13). Translators need to choose the tense of their verbs carefully to make sure that the meaning is clear. This applies also in verses 16-17.

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 .