Ezekiel 17:5
◄  Ezekiel 17:5  ►
New International Version (©2011)
"'He took one of the seedlings of the land and put it in fertile soil. He planted it like a willow by abundant water,

New Living Translation (©2007)
He also took a seedling from the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside a broad river, where it could grow like a willow tree.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Then he took of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside abundant waters. He set it like a willow twig,

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside abundant waters; he set it like a willow.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Then he took some of the land's seed and put it in a fertile field; he set it like a willow, a plant by abundant waters.

International Standard Version (©2012)
Then the eagle took a seed from the land and planted it in fertile ground. He planted it like a willow tree next to abundant waters.

NET Bible (©2006)
He took one of the seedlings of the land, placed it in a cultivated plot; a shoot by abundant water, like a willow he planted it.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
" 'Then it took a seedling from that country and planted the seedling in fertile soil. The eagle planted the seedling like a willow where there was plenty of water.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.

American King James Version
He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.

American Standard Version
He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside many waters; he set it as a willow-tree.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he took of the seed of the land, and put it in the ground for seed, that it might take a firm root over many waters: he planted it on the surface of the earth.

Darby Bible Translation
And he took of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, he set it as a willow tree.

English Revised Version
He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside many waters; he set it as a willow tree.

Webster's Bible Translation
He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.

World English Bible
He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside many waters; he set it as a willow tree.

Young's Literal Translation
And it taketh of the seed of the land, And doth put it in a field of seed, To take by many waters, In a conspicuous place it hath set it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:1-10 Mighty conquerors are aptly likened to birds or beasts of prey, but their destructive passions are overruled to forward God's designs. Those who depart from God, only vary their crimes by changing one carnal confidence for another, and never will prosper.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - The seed of the land is Zedekiah, who was made king by Nebuchadnezzar in Jeconiah's place. The imagery of the willow (the Hebrew word occurs here only) seems suggested by Ezekiel's surroundings. No tree could stand out in greater contrast to the cedar of Lebanon than the willows which he saw growing by the waters of Babylon (Psalm 137:2, though the word is different). The choice of the willow determined the rest of the imagery, and the fruitful field and the great or "many" (Revised Version) waters represent Judah, possibly with reference to its being in its measure a "land of brooks of waters," of "fountains and depths," of "wheat and barley and wine" (Deuteronomy 8:7-9; Deuteronomy 11:10-12). The kingdom of Zedekiah, i.e., was left with sufficient elements for material prosperity. That prosperity is indicated in ver. 6 by the fact that the willow became a vine. It was of "low stature," indeed, trailing on the ground. It could not claim the greatness of an independent kingdom. Its branches turned toward the planter (ver. 6); its roots were under him. It acknowledged, that is, Nebuchadnezzar's suzerainty, and so, had things continued as they were, it might have prospered.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He took also of the seed of the land,.... Of the land of Judea, a native of it, not a stranger; not one of another country, a Babylonian; not one of his own nobles or princes, did Nebuchadnezzar, the eagle, take and set upon the throne of Judea, but one of their own, even one of the king's seed, of the blood royal, as it is explained, Ezekiel 17:13, Mattaniah, the uncle of Jeconiah, whom the king of Babylon called Zedekiah, and made him king in his room:

and planted it in a fruitful field; in the land of Judea, and in Jerusalem the royal city:

he placed it by great waters; many people, Revelation 17:15; over whom he ruled, and by whom he was supported in his royal dignity:

and set it as a willow tree; which loves moist places, and grows up thick: unless it should be rendered, "he set it with great circumspection" (s); took a great deal of care and caution in placing him upon the throne; he made a covenant with him, took an oath of him, and hostages for the performance of it, Ezekiel 17:13. The Targum is,

"a planted vine he set it,''

to make it agree with what follows; but the word in the Chaldee and Arabic languages signifies a kind of willow, as we render it, as Ben Melech observes (t).

(s) "circumspectissime posuit illud, Junins & Tremellius, Polanus; "cum magna circumspectione", Piscator; "circumspecte, Cocceius, Starckius. (t) And so it does; see Castel, col. 3220, 3221. and in this way Jarchi and Kimchi interpret the word, in which they are followed by many; so R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 73. 1. nevertheless, the sense of it here is disapproved of by Castel, who observes, what has a willow to do with a vine? col. 3222. and commends the Greek version, which renders it, "conspicuous", to be seen; and so others translate it, "in superficie", V. L. Grotius; yet the "safsaf" of the Arabs is a tree by which they understood the "abeile" or poplar tree; see Shaw's Travels, p. 432. Ed. 2.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. seed of the land—not a foreign production, but one native in the region; a son of the soil, not a foreigner: Zedekiah, uncle of Jehoiachin, of David's family.

in a fruitful field—literally, a "field of seed"; that is, fit for propagating and continuing the seed of the royal family.

as a willow—derived from a Hebrew root, "to overflow," from its fondness for water (Isa 44:4). Judea was "a land of brooks of water and fountains" (De 8:7-9; compare Joh 3:23).

Ezekiel 17:5 Parallel Commentaries

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The Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine
…4He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants. 5He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree. 6And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs. …

Deuteronomy 8:7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land--a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills;
Isaiah 44:4 They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.
Jeremiah 12:2 You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.
Ezekiel 17:4 he broke off its topmost shoot and carried it away to a land of merchants, where he planted it in a city of traders.
Ezekiel 17:6 and it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine. Its branches turned toward him, but its roots remained under it. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out leafy boughs.
Ezekiel 17:13 Then he took a member of the royal family and made a treaty with him, putting him under oath. He also carried away the leading men of the land,
Ezekiel 31:4 The waters nourished it, deep springs made it grow tall; their streams flowed all around its base and sent their channels to all the trees of the field.
Ezekiel 31:5 So it towered higher than all the trees of the field; its boughs increased and its branches grew long, spreading because of abundant waters.