Ezekiel 17

₁The Lord talked to me and He said: ₂‘Son of man, you must tell the Israelites a parable, a story. ₃You must say: “The Lord God says: A big eagle with big wings and long and colourful feathers came from Mount Lebanon. The eagle went to the top of a cedar tree ₄and he broke off the soft top of the tree and he took it to the land of Babylon. He put it down in Babylon, in the city of merchants. ₅Then the eagle took a small branch from the land_of_Israel and he planted it in good and fertile ground like people plant a branch of a willow tree near lots of water. ₆And the branch grew bigger and it became a vine that grew over the ground. The roots of the vine became strong and went deep down and the vine had a lot of leaves and they turned to the eagle. The vine became big and strong with a lot of branches and leaves. ₇Then there came another big eagle with big wings and a lot of feathers and then, suddenly, the vine turned its roots and branches to the 2nd eagle. It wanted more water from the 2nd eagle than it had in the place where the first eagle had planted it. ₈The first eagle had planted the vine in good and fertile ground and it had lots of water. The vine could get leaves and branches and a lot of fruit and it could become a very good vine.” ₉You must tell the people: “The Lord God says: That vine will not live and grow bigger. The first eagle will pull out its roots, its grapes will become bad and dry and its new branches will become dry and die. It will be easy for the first eagle to pull out the vine. He will not have to ask other people to help him. ₁₀And if the 2nd eagle wants to plant the vine in another place, it will not grow again. When the hot eastern wind starts to blow, the vine will become completely dry and it will die there where it was planted.” ’

₁₁The Lord talked to me and He said: ₁₂‘You must ask these rebellious people: “Do you know what this parable means?”

You must explain it to them and say: “The king of Babylon has come to Jerusalem. He took the king of Jerusalem and his officials with him to Babylon. ₁₃And then he took someone from the family of the king and made an agreement with him. This person had to promise the king of Babylon that he would serve him. The king of Babylon took all the other important people of Israel out of the land ₁₄so that the new king of Jerusalem would know that his people were weak and that he should not try to be important and rebel. He had to do what the king of Babylon told him in the agreement, and then he would stay king in Jerusalem.

₁₅But then the king of Jerusalem rebelled_against the king of Babylon and he sent messengers to Egypt to get horses and a lot of soldiers. Do you think the king in Jerusalem will succeed? Do you think this king will be strong enough to defeat Babylon and escape? No, he has broken his agreement and the king of Babylon will punish him.” ’

₁₆The Lord God says: ‘The new king of Jerusalem will die in Babylon. This is sure, as sure as I live. He will die in Babylon, where the king is who made him king. He has not done what he promised the king of Babylon. He made an agreement with the king of Babylon, but he broke that agreement. ₁₇The king of Babylon will build up sand against the wall of Jerusalem and he will build a ramp and he will attack the city so that he can kill the people. And Pharaoh will not send his soldiers to come and help the king of Jerusalem in this war. ₁₈The king of Jerusalem did not do what he promised. He broke the agreement. He made a promise and he shook the hand of the king of Babylon, but then he did all these other things. That is why he will not escape.’

₁₉The Lord God says: ‘He has also not done what he promised Me. That is why I will punish him, this is sure, as sure as I live. He has broken my covenant. ₂₀I will throw my net over him and catch him and bring him to Babylon. I will punish him because he was unfaithful to Me. ₂₁The enemies will kill all his soldiers who try to flee with him and they will chase the people who are still_alive all over the world. You will know that I have spoken, and I am the Lord.’

₂₂The Lord God says: ‘I will take the top part of the cedar tree and I will plant it. I will break off a small branch of its top and I will plant it on a high and important mountain. ₂₃I will plant the branch on the high mountain of Israel and the tree will grow new branches and will have fruit. It will become a big and important cedar tree. All the birds will come and sit in the tree. Every kind of bird that flies will come and sit in the shade of its branches. ₂₄All the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord who breaks big trees and makes them small, and I take small trees and make them big. They will know that I am the Lord who makes green trees become dry and makes those dry trees become green again. I, the Lord, have spoken and I will do it.’