Ezekiel 17

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.

17 And not with [his] mighty army and [his] great assembly, will Pharaoh maintain him in the war, in the piling up of a siege mound, and with the building of a wall, to cut off many souls.

18 And he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand, and all these [things] he did—he will not escape!’

19 Therefore, thus says the Lord YHWH: ‘[As] I live, surely My oath that he despised, and My covenant that he broke, will I not recompense upon his head?

20 And I will spread over him My net, and he will be captured in My snare; and I will bring him to Babylon, and I will execute judgment upon him there [for] the unfaithfulness [with] which he was unfaithful against Me.

21 And all his choice troops will fall by the sword, and those remaining will be scattered to every wind! And you⁺ will know that I, YHWH, have spoken.’

22 Thus says the Lord YHWH: ‘I will take from the treetop of the highest cedar, and I will set [it] out; from the topmost of its shoots, a tender one I will pluck off, and I will plant [it] on a mountain high and exalted.

23 On a mountain in the height of Israel I will plant it, and it will bear boughs and it will yield fruit, and it will be majestic as a cedar; and will dwell under it every bird of every wing; in the shade of its branches they will dwell.

24 And all the trees of the field will know that I, YHWH, have brought low the high tree, and have raised high the low tree; I dried up the green tree and I made bud the dry tree. I, YHWH, have spoken, and I have done [it].’”