Ezekiel 17:1-24
17 And Jehovah’s word came to me
2 “Man, propound a riddle and deliver a parable to the house of Israel,
3 and say ‘Says the Lord Jehovah, A great vulture, great-winged, long-pinioned, full-feathered, mosaic-colored, came to the Lebanon and took the tip of a cedar;
4 * he took the topmost of its shoots and brought it to a commercial country; he laid it in a city of traders.
5 * And he took seed of the cedar and put it in a seed field; it took beside a large body of water, he made it a bank-growth,
6 ** to sprout and become a sprawling vine of little height, for its sprays to turn toward him and its roots to be under him; and it became a vine and made canes and put out fruiting sprays.
7 * And there was another great vulture, great-winged and many-feathered, and this vine went and crooked its roots round toward him and sent him its shoots for watering it more than the bed it was planted in.
8 It had been set out on good land, by much water, to make branches and bear fruit and be a grand vine.’
9 “Say ‘Says the Lord Jehovah, Will it thrive? will he not pull up its roots and spoil its fruit and let all its tender new growth dry out? and not with a great arm and a large body of men to lift it from its roots.
10 And suppose it is set out, will it thrive? when the east wind touches it will it not dry out, dry out in the bed it was making its new growth in?’”
11 * And Jehovah’s word came to me,
12 “Say to the disobedient house ‘Do you not know what this stands for?’ Say ‘Here the king of Babylon has come to Jerusalem and taken its king and its generals and brought them to his own home Babylon,
13 and taken one of the royal blood and made a treaty with him and had him come under an imprecation, and taken the notables of the country,
14 to have it a lowly kingdom, not to lift itself up, to keep his treaty, that it might stand.
15 And he rebelled against him, sending his envoys to Egypt to give him ponies and a great body of men. Will he thrive? will he who did this come off safe? break a treaty and come off safe?
16 By my life, quoth the Lord Jehovah, at the place of the king who installed him, whose imprecation he despised and whose treaty he broke, with him inside Babylon he will die.
17 * And not with great forces and numerous assemblage will the Pharaoh support him in the war when a ramp is thrown up and a wall of investment built to cut off many lives.
18 * And he had despised an imprecation, breaking a treaty, when he had given his hand, and had done all these things—he shall not come off safe.
19 * So the Lord Jehovah says, By my life, the imprecation by me that he despised and the treaty by me that he broke I will bring down on his own head.
20 * And I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my toils; and I will bring him to Babylon, and plead my case against him there for the unfaithfulness he has committed toward me.
21 * And all his choicest, in all his squadrons they will fall by the sword; and those that remain will disperse to every wind; and you will know it was I, Jehovah, that spoke.
22 * “‘Says the Lord Jehovah, And I myself will take some of the tip of the cedar, from the topmost of its shoots I will pick off a tender one, and I myself will set it out on a high and piled-up mountain:
23 ** in Israel’s lofty highland I will set it out, and it will bear branches and produce fruit and become a grand cedar, and birds of all feathers will perch under it; in the shadow of its sprays they will perch.
24 And all the trees of the countryside will know that I Jehovah have brought a high tree low, have raised a low tree high, have dried out a lush tree and set a dry tree to budding: I Jehovah have spoken and I will do.’”
Footnotes
^ 17:4 Or to Canaan; he
^ 17:5 (second half) Unc.; susp.
^ 17:6 Codd.* bank-growth. And it sprouted and became
^ 17:6 Lit. low in height
^ 17:7 Or out of the bed Conj.* sent him its shoots to give him drink out of
^ 17:11 Var. Man, say
^ 17:17 Lit. make him in the war (or make with him in the war) Var. make war with him Conj. will the Pharaoh save him in the war Conj. will he make war with him
^ 17:18 Var. lives, because he had
^ 17:19 Lit. will put on his own head
^ 17:20-21 Var. omits all from and I will bring to choicest
^ 17:21 Var. And all his fugitives
^ 17:22 (piled-up) Unc.
^ 17:23 Lit. the highland of Israel’s lofty height
^ 17:23 Lit. every bird of every wing
