Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon. He illustrates the pride and the consequent overthrow of the Assyrian, that Egypt may the better know what she must expect.
Cedar in Lebanon - often eighty feet high, and the diameter of the space covered by its boughs still greater: the symmetry perfect. (Compare the similar image Ezekiel 17:3; Daniel 4:20-22; when Nebuchadnezzar is compared to such a tree in the dream which he saw).
With a shadowing shroud - with an over-shadowing thicket.
His top was among the thick boughs - rather (Hengstenberg), 'among the clouds.' But the English version agrees better with the Hebrew х `ªbotiym (H5688), from `aabat (H5686), to wrap into a thick mass, as a thicket formed of densely twined boughs and leaves]. The top, or topmost shoot, represents the king; the thick boughs, the large resources of the empire.