Ezekiel 17

¹The word of the Lord came to me:

²Son of man , propound a riddle , and speak a parable to the house of Israel ;

³say , Thus says the Lord God: A great eagle with great wings and long pinions , rich in plumage of many colors , came to Lebanon and took the top of the cedar .

⁴He broke off the topmost of its young twigs and carried it to a land of trade and set it in a city of merchants .

⁵Then he took of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil . He placed it beside abundant waters . He set it like a willow twig ,

⁶and it sprouted and became a spreading vine , and its branches turned toward him, and its roots remained where it stood . So it became a vine and produced branches and put out boughs .

⁷And there was another great eagle with great wings and much plumage , and behold , this vine bent its roots toward him and shot forth its branches toward him from the bed where it was planted , that he might water it.

⁸It had been planted on good soil by abundant waters , that it might produce branches and bear fruit and become a noble vine .

⁹Say , Thus says the Lord God: Will it thrive ? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit , so that it withers , so that all its fresh sprouting leaves wither ? It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it from its roots .

¹⁰Behold , it is planted ; will it thrive ? Will it not utterly wither when the east wind strikes it— wither away on the bed where it sprouted ?

¹¹Then the word of the Lord came to me:

¹²Say now to the rebellious house , Do you not know what these things mean? Tell them, behold , the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem , and took her king and her princes and brought them to him to Babylon .

¹³And he took one of the royal offspring and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath ( the chief men of the land he had taken away ),

¹⁴that the kingdom might be humble and not lift itself up , and keep his covenant that it might stand .

¹⁵But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt , that they might give him horses and a large army . Will he thrive ? Can one escape who does such things ? Can he break the covenant and yet escape ?

¹⁶As I live , declares the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king , whose oath he despised , and whose covenant with him he broke , in Babylon he shall die .

¹⁷Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war , when mounds are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives .

¹⁸He despised the oath in breaking the covenant , and behold , he gave his hand and did all these things ; he shall not escape .

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord God: As I live , surely it is my oath that he despised , and my covenant that he broke . I will return it upon his head .

²⁰I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare , and I will bring him to Babylon and enter into judgment with him there for the treachery he has committed against me.

²¹And all the pick of his troops shall fall by the sword , and the survivors shall be scattered to every wind , and you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken .

²²Thus says the Lord God: I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one , and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain .

²³On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar . And under it will dwell every kind of bird ; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest .

²⁴And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree , and make high the low tree , dry up the green tree , and make the dry tree flourish . I am the Lord; I have spoken , and I will do it .