Ezekiel

The word of GOD came to me:

O mortal, propound a riddle and relate an allegory to the House of Israel.

Say: Thus said the Sovereign GOD: The great eagle with the great wings and the long pinions, with the full plumage and the brilliant colors,awith the full plumage and the brilliant colors This description suggests the golden eagle; the vulture, called by the same word in Heb. (nesher), has a bald head (Mic. 1.16) and dark feathers. came to the Lebanon range and seized the top of the cedar.

He plucked off its topmost bough and carried it off to the land of tradersbtraders Cf. 16.29. and set it in a city of merchants.

He then took some of the seed of the landcland Emendation yields “cedar.” and planted it in a fertile field; he planted and set it like a willowdhe planted and set it like a willow Meaning of Heb. uncertain. beside abundant waters.

It grew and became a spreading vine of low stature; it became a vine, produced branches, and sent out boughs. [He had intended] that its twigs should turn to him, and that its roots should stay under him.

But there was another great eagle with great wings and full plumage; and this vine now bent its roots in his direction and sent out its twigs toward him, that he might water it more than the bed where it was planted—

though it was planted in rich soil beside abundant water—so that it might grow branches and produce boughs and be a noble vine.

Say: Thus said the Sovereign GOD: Will it thrive? Will heehe I.e., the first eagle. not tear out its roots and rip off its crown, so that its entire foliage withers? It shall wither, despite any strong arm or mighty army [that may come] to remove it from its roots.

And suppose it is transplanted, will it thrive? When the east wind strikes it, it shall wither—wither upon the bed where it is growing.

Then the word of GOD came to me:

Say to the rebellious breed: Do you not know what these things mean? Say: The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and carried away its kingfits king I.e., Jehoiachin, exiled to Babylonia in 597 BCE. and its officers and brought them back with him to Babylon.

He took one of the seed royalgone of the seed royal I.e., Zedekiah. and made a covenant with him and imposed an oath on him, and he carried away the nobles of the land—

so that it might be a humble kingdom and not exalt itself, but keep his covenant and so endure.

But [that prince] rebelled against him and sent his envoys to Egypt to get horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Shall he break a covenant and escape?

As I live—declares the Sovereign GOD—in the very homeland of the king who made him king, whose oath he flouted and whose covenant he broke—right there, in Babylon, he shall die.

Pharaoh will not fight at his side with a great army and with numerous troops in the war, when mounds are thrown up and siege towers erected to destroy many lives.

He flouted a pact and broke a covenant; he gave his promise and did all these things—he shall not escape.

Assuredly, thus said the Sovereign GOD: As I live, I will pay him back for flouting My pact and breaking My covenant.

I will spread My net over him and he shall be caught in My snare; I will carry him to Babylon and enter with him into judgment there for the trespass that he committed against Me.

And all the fugitiveshfugitives Many mss. read “elite troops.” of all his battalions shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall scatter in every direction; then you will know that I, GOD, have spoken.

Thus said the Sovereign GOD: Then I in turn will take and set [in the ground a slip] from the lofty top of the cedar; I will pluck a tender twig from the tip of its crown, and I will plant it on a tall, towering mountain.

I will plant it in Israel’s lofty highlands, and it shall bring forth boughs and produce branchesibranches In contrast to others “fruit.” and grow into a noble cedar. Every bird of every feather shall take shelter under it, shelter in the shade of its boughs.

Then shall all the trees of the field know that it is I, GOD, who have abased the lofty tree and exalted the lowly tree, who have dried up the green tree and made the withered tree bud. I, GOD, have spoken, and I will act.