Hebrew Text

The following table shows the Hebrew text^[4][5] of Ezekiel 17:1-10^[6] with vowels alongside an English translation based upon the JPS 1917 translation (now in the public domain).

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008).^[7]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^Q; 6th century).^{[8][lower-alpha 1]}

Verse 2

Son of man, put forth a riddle,

and speak a parable unto the house of Israel.^[10]

• "Son of man" (Hebrew: בן־אדם ben-adam): this phrase is used 93 times to address Ezekiel.^[11]
• "Riddle" (Hebrew: חידה hidah): the Hebrew word has a meaning of "dark, obscure utterance",^[12] requiring interpretation; the passage is also called a "parable", as containing a similitude (Hebrew: משל mashal) or comparison.^[1][13][14]

Verse 3

and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

"A great eagle with large wings and long pinions,

Full of feathers of various colors,

Came to Lebanon

And took from the cedar the highest branch."^[15]

• "A great eagle": refers to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Conquerors are also compared to an eagle in:
• Deuteronomy 28:49;
• Isaiah 46:11;
• Jeremiah 4:13;
• Jeremiah 48:40;
• Hosea 8:1;
• Lamentations 4:19.^[1]

Verse 9

"Say, 'Thus says the Lord God:

"Will it thrive?

Will he not pull up its roots,

Cut off its fruit,

And leave it to wither?

All of its spring leaves will wither,

And no great power or many people

Will be needed to pluck it up by its roots."'"^[16]

• Rashi noted that the entire Hebrew alphabet is found in this verse.^[17]

Verse 15

But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? Shall he escape who does such things? Can he indeed break the covenant and be delivered?^[18]

• "Against him": here, "against the King of Babylon"^[19]
• "Into Egypt": that is, asking help from the king of Egypt at that time, Pharaoh Hophra (Apries) (Jeremiah 37:5; Jeremiah 44:30).^[20]
• "Break the covenant": Zedekiah broke the covenant not only of the king of Babylon but also of YHWH (Ezekiel 17:19); Ezekiel follows the prophecy of Jeremiah, perhaps he heard Jeremiah spoke in the beginning of Zedekiah's reign (Jeremiah 27:9-17: "serve the king of Babylon and live") or even probably he had heard Jeremiah's words spoken in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Ezekiel 25) or Jeremiah's advice to the exiles (cf. Jeremiah 29:4).^[20]

Verse 16

As I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.^[21]

• The prophecy was fulfilled when Zedekiah died in the prison in Babylon (2 Kings 25:6,7; Jeremiah 39:7; Jeremiah 52:11).^[22]

Verse 23

On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it;

and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar.

Under it will dwell birds of every sort;

in the shadow of its branches they will dwell.^[23]

This "messianic allegory" is presented with the reference to the "branch" in Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5–6; Zechariah 3:8, which grows to be "a majestic cedar."^[24]

As shown in the Daily Mass Readings provided in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, one of the main references in the Gospels is the Parable of the Mustard Seed (Mark 4:30–32).^[25]