Ezekiel 17:1-8 ▼

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.’