I will make the nations quake at the sound of its fall: When the people in all the nations heard that the cedar tree had fallen, they shook in fear and horror, as if in an earthquake (compare 26.15). Contemporary English Version says “This tree will crash to the ground … Then the nations of the earth will tremble.” This rendering suggests that the loud noise it makes as it crashes down will terrify the people. This is a possible understanding, but it is more likely that it was the news of the mighty tree brought down that caused the people to shake in fright, so a better model here is “When the people of the nations heard that the tree had fallen, they shook in fear.”

When I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the Pit: Cast … down renders a causative form of the same Hebrew verb translated go down here and “goes down” in verse 15. God made the tree go down to the place of the dead. For Sheol see verse 15; for those who go down to the Pit, see verse 14.

A model for the first half of this verse is:

• When the people of the nations heard what had happened to that tree, how I threw it down to join those that were in the world of the dead, they shook in fear.

For many translators, it will be desirable to rearrange this sentence in chronological order by following the model of Good News Translation.

And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, will be comforted in the nether world: All the trees of Eden were believed to be the tallest and most beautiful trees in the world (see Ezek 31.9). They were no longer in the garden of Eden, but had already died and were in the nether world (see verse 14), that is, in the place of the dead, where the cedar tree had just arrived. The choice and best of Lebanon was another group of trees that had died and gone down to the underworld, as Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version and New Century Version make clear. Choice may be rendered “finest” (New International Reader’s Version, Christian Community Bible), “loveliest” (New Jerusalem Bible), or “most beautiful” (New Living Translation). All that drink water may refer to a third group of trees in the underworld, but more likely it describes the two groups already mentioned, which were “well-watered” (Good News Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, Christian Community Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), that is, they “received plenty of water” (New International Reader’s Version). For this phrase see verse 14. All these trees were comforted, “consoled” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt), “pleased” (Good News Translation), when they saw the great cedar tree coming down to the underworld with them. In verse 9 they had envied the cedar tree because it was much bigger and better than they were, but now it had been reduced to the same level. All the trees are equal in the world of dead. Here is one model for this part of the verse:

• All the trees that were in the place of the dead below were pleased when that tree joined them there. These were the trees from the garden of Eden and the finest trees from the Lebanon Mountains, all the best trees that had been well watered.

For the tenses of the Hebrew verbs in this verse, see the comments on verse 15. Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and Contemporary English Version continue to use future tense, but most translations have past tense, which we prefer. As in the previous verses, the picture language of trees standing for powerful and important people or nations, such as Assyria, may be hard for some languages, but it is desirable to maintain the picture as long as possible.

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 .