Son of man, pose a riddle and speak a proverb to the house of Israel,
and say: Thus says the Lord GOD: The great eagle, great of wings, long of pinion, full of plumage, which had the many colors, came to Lebanon and took the treetop of the cedar.
The head of its shoots he plucked off, and brought it to a land of trade; in a city of merchants he set it.
And he took from the seed of the land and put it in a seed field. He took it by many waters; as a willow he set it.
And it sprouted and became a spreading vine, low of height, its tendrils turning toward him and its roots under him. And it became a vine and made branches and sent out boughs.
And there was another great eagle, great of wings and many of plumage. And see, this vine bent its roots toward him and sent out its tendrils to him, that he might water it from the beds of its planting.
In a good field, by many waters, it was planted, to make branches and bear fruit, to be a majestic vine.
Say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Will it prosper? Will he not pull up its roots and strip off its fruit, so that it withers? All the fresh leaves of its growth will wither — and not by a great arm or many people, when it is lifted from its roots.
And see, though planted, will it prosper? When the east wind touches it, will it not utterly wither? On the beds where it grew it will wither.
The Parable Explained
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying:
Say now to the house of rebellion: Do you not know what these are? Say: See, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took her king and her officials and brought them to himself, to Babylon.
And he took from the seed of royalty and cut a covenant with him and brought him under an imprecation; and the rams of the land he took,
so that the kingdom would be low and not lift itself up, keeping his covenant so that it might stand.
But he rebelled against him by sending his messengers to Egypt, to give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these be rescued? Will he break a covenant and be rescued?
As I live, the utterance of the Lord GOD, surely in the place of the king who made him king, whose imprecation he despised and whose covenant he broke — with him, in the midst of Babylon, he will die.
And not with a great force or a great assembly will Pharaoh act for him in the battle, when a ramp is poured up and siege walls are built to cut off many souls.
And he despised an imprecation, breaking a covenant; and see, he had given his hand, and he did all these — he will not be rescued.
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: As I live, surely my imprecation that he despised and my covenant that he broke, I will set on his head.
And I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare; and I will bring him to Babylon and enter into judgment with him there for his unfaithfulness by which he was unfaithful to me.
And all his fugitives among all his troops will fall by the sword, and those remaining will be spread to every wind; and you will know that I the LORD have spoken.
Thus says the Lord GOD: And I myself will take from the treetop of the high cedar and set it; from the head of its shoots I will pluck a tender one, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, and it will lift branches and make fruit and become a majestic cedar. And under it will dwell every bird of every wing; in the shade of its tendrils they will dwell.
And all the trees of the field will know that I the LORD have brought low the high tree and raised high the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish. I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it.
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