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Ezekiel 17

17 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 Mortal human, tell this ambiguous story to the Israelite people. 3 Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says:

There once was a huge eagle with powerful wings and long feathers of many colors.

It flew to Lebanon and grasped the top of a cedar tree.

4 It broke off the topmost of its young branches

and carried it away to the Canaanite territories.

The eagle set it down in a city of vendors.

5 Then it took some of the seed of that land

and planted it in a fertile field,

in a slip beside abundant water.

He planted it there like one plants a willow tree.

6 That seed sprouted

and became a low, spreading vine.

Its tendrils grew toward the eagle,

and its roots extended down beneath it.

So it became a vine that produced woody branches

and put out canes.

7 There was another huge eagle with powerful wings and many feathers.

Now, the spreading vine bent its roots toward this second eagle.

From the garden bed where it grew,

the vine stretched out its tendrils toward the eagle,

hoping that it would give the vine more water.

8 The first eagle had planted the vine-plant in a fertile field

that ran along flowing water

so that it could grow woody canes

and produce fruit

and become a splendid vine.’

9 Then say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says:

This vine will clearly not flourish!

Someone will rip up its roots

and strip off its fruit,

so that it wilts and dies.

All its fresh new leaves will wilt and die.

(And it will not take a strong arm

or many people to pull it up by its roots!)

10 Now, consider this:

Even though the eagle planted it,

it will clearly not flourish!

When the hot east wind blows on it,

it will entirely wither and die.

Yes, it will wither away,

right in the garden bed where it once grew.’ ”

11 Then Yahweh gave me this message: 12 “Ask those Israelite people who continually revolt against me, ‘You do not understand what this ambiguous story means, do you?’ Tell them, ‘Remember: The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, captured the Judahite king Jehoiachin and his public officials, and brought them back to himself in Babylon. 13 Then he took one of the royal family—Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah—and made a royal treaty with him, coercing him to swear a solemn oath. He also forcibly removed the most powerful local rulers of Jerusalem, 14 so that the Judahite kingdom would remain weak and unable to revolt against him. Instead, it could survive only by honoring its treaty with the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. 15 However, the man whom the Babylonian king set up, Zedekiah, revolted against Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire. Zedekiah dispatched his messengers to Egypt, to Pharoah Hophra, so that the Egyptian Empire would equip him with horses and many soldiers. Clearly, Zedekiah will not flourish! He who does such things will certainly not survive! Zedekiah disregarded the treaty he made with the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, so he will clearly not survive!

16 I swear by myself that Zedekiah will die in Babylon, in the city of the king who made him king, whose oath he disregarded and whose treaty he violated. This is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare! 17 Hophra, the king of Egypt, will not employ his massive army to fight alongside Zedekiah in the battle when the Babylonian Empire constructs a siege ramp and erects siege walls to kill many people. 18 Zedekiah, the so-called king of Judah, showed no respect for his oath to Nebuchadnezzar and broke the treaty he had made. Make note: He made a solemn promise, yet he did all these things. So, he will clearly not survive!

19 So, this is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: I swear by myself that the oath to Nebuchadnezzar that Zedekiah disregarded, he swore in my name! And the covenant he violated was with me! I will repay him for these actions! 20 I will ensnare Zedekiah and capture him, like an animal that a hunter traps with a net. I will forcibly bring him to Babylon, and there I will execute my legal sentence against him for disloyally betraying his promises to me. 21 With their swords, Babylonian soldiers will murder every one of Zedekiah’s soldiers who flees in the battle, and those who survive will disperse in every direction. When all this happens, you will recognize that I, Yahweh, have spoken!’

22 This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: ‘I myself will remove a shoot from the top of a tall cedar tree, and I will plant it. I will break off a newly grown, green twig from the topmost of its young shoots, and I myself will plant it on a towering mountain. 23 I will plant that newly grown green twig on the highest mountain of Israel, where it will grow woody branches and bear fruit and become a magnificent, wide cedar tree. Birds of every kind will nest under it; every kind of winged animal will live in the shade of its branches. 24 Then every tree in the field will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh! I fell tall trees and cause small trees to grow tall; I dry up green trees and make dry trees flourish. I am Yahweh—I have spoken, and I will certainly do it!’ ”

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