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Say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:[a]

“‘A great eagle[b] with broad wings, long feathers,[c]
with full plumage that was multi-hued,[d]
came to Lebanon[e] and took the top of the cedar.
He plucked off its topmost shoot;
he brought it to a land of merchants
and planted it in a city of traders.
He took one of the seedlings[f] of the land,
placed it in a cultivated plot;[g]
a shoot by abundant water,
like a willow he planted it.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 17:3 tn The parable assumes the defection of Zedekiah to Egypt and his rejection of Babylonian lordship.
  2. Ezekiel 17:3 sn The great eagle symbolizes Nebuchadnezzar (17:12).
  3. Ezekiel 17:3 tn Hebrew has two words for wings; it is unknown whether they are fully synonymous or whether one term distinguishes a particular part of the wing such as the wing coverts (nearest the shoulder), secondaries (mid-feathers of the wing), or primaries (last and longest section of the wing).
  4. Ezekiel 17:3 tn This term was used in 16:10, 13, and 18 of embroidered cloth.
  5. Ezekiel 17:3 sn In the parable Lebanon apparently refers to Jerusalem (17:12).
  6. Ezekiel 17:5 tn Heb “took of the seed of the land.” For the vine imagery, “seedling” is a better translation, though in its subsequent interpretation the “seed” refers to Zedekiah through its common application to offspring.
  7. Ezekiel 17:5 tn Heb “a field for seed.”