Ezekiel 17

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Son of man, tell a tale and speak a parable to the house of Israel,

And you shall say: Thus says the Lord: The great eagle, great of wing, long in its span, full of talons, who has the leadership to enter into Lebanon, and he took the choice parts of the cedar.

He nipped off the tips of the tender growth and carried them into the land of Chanaan; in a walled city he set them.

And he took of the seed of the land and put it into the plain, a plant by abundant water; he set it to be conspicuous.

And it sprang up and became a weak vine, small in size, just enough to show itself; its branches were toward it, and its roots were beneath it; and it became a vine and produced shoots and extended its climbing tendrils.

And there was another great eagle, great of wing, abundant in talons; and behold, this vine was entwined toward him, and its roots toward him, and it sent out its branches to him, that he might water it, together with the clod of its planting.

In a good plain, by abundant water, it grows lush, so as to put forth shoots and bear fruit, to become a great vine.

Therefore say: Thus says the Lord: Will it prosper? Will not the roots of its tender growth and its fruit rot, and all its early shoots wither? And it will take no great arm nor a numerous people to tear it out from its roots.

And behold, it grows lush. Will it prosper? Will it not, as soon as the scorching wind touches it, be dried up with drought? Together with the clod where it sprouted it shall be dried up.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Son of man, say now to the embittering house: Do you not know what these things were? Say: When the king of Babylon comes against Ierousalem and takes its king and its rulers and brings them to himself to Babylon;

and he will take of the seed of the kingdom and make a covenant with him and bring him in under a curse, and he will take the leaders of the land,

so that it might become a weak kingdom, not exalting itself at all, so as to keep his covenant and uphold it.

But he revolted from him by sending his own messengers to Egypt, that they might give him horses and a numerous people. Will he prosper? Will he who acts contrary and transgresses a covenant be delivered? Will he be saved?

As I live, says the Lord, surely in the place where the king is who made him king — he who dishonored my curse and who transgressed my covenant — with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.

And not with great force nor with a great throng will Pharao wage war toward him, with the throwing up of a siege mound and with the building of missile-towers to take away lives.

And he dishonored an oath by transgressing a covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, yet he did all these things to him. He shall not be saved.

Therefore say: Thus says the Lord: As I live, surely my covenant which he transgressed and my oath which he dishonored — I will indeed bring them upon his head.

And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be caught in its enclosure.

In all his battle array they shall fall by the sword, and the remnant I will scatter to every wind; and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken.

For thus says the Lord: I myself will take of the choice parts of the cedar; from the top of their heart I will nip off, and I myself will plant it on a high mountain, and I will hang it up;

on a lofty mountain of Israel; and I will plant it, and it shall put forth a shoot and produce fruit and become a great cedar; and under it every beast shall rest, and every bird shall rest under its shade; its branches shall be restored.

And all the trees of the plain shall know that I am the Lord, who brings low the high tree and exalts the low tree, who dries up the green tree and makes the dry tree flourish again. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.