Ezekiel 17:1-16 ▼

1 And the word of YHWH came to me, saying:

2 “Son of man, pose a riddle and present a parable to the house of Israel,

3 and say, thus says the Lord YHWH: ‘A great eagle, great of wings and long of pinions, full of feathers that are unto it of many colors, came to Lebanon, and took from the treetop of the cedar.

4 The topmost of its shoots he plucked off and he brought it in to a land of trade. In a city of merchants he set it.

5 And he took from the seed of the land, and he put it it in a field of seed; he took it next to abundant waters; as a willow tree he set it.

6 And it grew and became a spreading vine, low of height, turning its branches toward him, and its roots were under it, and it became as a vine and made branches and sent out shoots.

7 And there was one great eagle, great of wings and abundant of feathers, and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, and its branches it stretched out toward him, to water it from the beds of its planting.

8 In a good field, next to many waters, it was planted, to make branches and to bear fruit, to become as a vine of magnificence.’

9 Say, thus says the Lord YHWH: ‘Will it prosper? Will he not its roots pull up and strip off its fruit, so it withers—all of the fresh sproutings of its branch wither? And not a great arm or many people to lift it up by its roots.

10 And behold, being planted, will it prosper? At the touching of it by the wind from the east, Will it not it will completely wither—will it wither on the beds of its planting?’”

11 And the word of YHWH came to me, saying:

12 “Say now to the house of rebellion, ‘Do you⁺ not know what these are?’ Say, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and he took her king and her princes, and he brought them with him to Babylon.

13 And he took from the seed of the king, and he cut with him a covenant, and he brought him in under oath—for the mighty ones of the land he had taken away—

14 that the kingdom would be brought low and not lift itself up by keeping his covenant that it may stand.

15 And he rebelled against him by sending his messengers to Egypt, to give to him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he escape, the one doing these things? And can he break a covenant, and escape?’

16 ‘As I live,’ a declaration of the Lord YHWH, ‘Will he not—in the place of the king causing him to reign, of whom his oath he despised, and of whom his covenant he broke with him—die in the midst of Babylon.