Book of Ezekiel_Chapter 17
The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Son of man, tell riddles and metaphors to the house of Israel,
Thus says the Lord GOD, A great eagle with great wings, long feathers, full feathers, and full colors came to Lebanon and twisted away the top of the cedar tree,
It is to pluck the tender branches of the cedar tree, take them to the trading ground, and place them in the trading city.
And he planted the branches of the land of Israel in fertile fields, and planted them by the great waters, like a willow tree,
It gradually grows and becomes a spreading dwarf grape tree. Its branches turned to the eagle, and its roots were below the eagle, making it a vine, giving birth to branches and branching out.
There is another great eagle with big wings and many feathers. This grape tree bends its roots towards this eagle from the planted bed and branches out, so that it can be watered.
This tree is planted next to a fertile field with plenty of water, so that it can grow branches and bear fruit, making it a beautiful grape tree.
You shall say, Thus says the Lord GOD, Will this vine prosper? Will not the eagle pull out its roots, cut off its fruits, and make it wither, so that all its tender leaves wither? It doesn’t need to be forceful or populous to uproot its roots.
Although grape trees are planted, how can they flourish? Once the east wind blows, won’t it completely dry up? It will wither in the growing beds.
The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Do you not know what these things mean to that rebellious house? Tell them that the king of Babylon has come to Jerusalem and brought its kings and leaders to Babylon himself.
Take one person from the royal family of Israel and make a covenant with him, so that he may swear and take away the powerful people from the land,
To make the country humble and unable to strengthen itself, but to survive by keeping the covenant.
But he betrayed the king of Babylon and sent messengers to Egypt, asking them to give him horses and many people. How can he succeed? How can those who do such things escape? How can he break the contract and escape?
He despised the oath he had sworn to the king and betrayed the covenant he had made with him. As I live forever, declares the Lord GOD, he will surely die in the capital where he was made king, the king of Babylon.
When the enemy builds fortifications and towers to fight against him, in order to cut off many people, even though Pharaoh leads a large army and a large crowd, he cannot help him.
He despises the oath, breaks the covenant, has surrendered, but does all these things, and he will not escape.
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, As I live forever, I will bring this sin upon his head, because he despises the oath he has taken against me and has broken the covenant he has made against me.
I will scatter my net on him, and he will be entangled in my net. I will bring him to Babylon and punish him there for his wrongdoing against me.
All his armies, whoever flees, will fall by the sword. What remains will also be scattered in all directions. You will know that I, the Lord, am the one who speaks these words.
This is what the Lord GOD says: I will pluck the top of the cedar tree and plant it, that is, I will pluck a young branch from the tip of the twig and plant it on a very high mountain.
Plant on the high mountains of Israel. It will give birth to branches and bear fruit, becoming a beautiful cedar tree. All kinds of birds will stay under it, even under the shade of its branches.
All the trees in the field will know that I, the Lord, have made the tall trees short and the low trees tall. The green tree withers, and the withered tree thrives. I, the Lord, have said and done so.
