Text -- Ezekiel 17:1-5 (NET)

A Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine

17:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 17:2 “Son of man, offer a riddle, and tell a parable to the house of Israel. 17:3 Say to them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘A great eagle with broad wings, long feathers, with full plumage which was multi-hued, came to Lebanon and took the top of the cedar. 17:4 He plucked off its topmost shoot; he brought it to a land of merchants and planted it in a city of traders. 17:5 He took one of the seedlings of the land, placed it in a cultivated plot; a shoot by abundant water, like a willow he planted it.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Eze 17:2

¹ sn The verb occurs elsewhere in the OT only in Judg 14:12-19, where Samson supplies a riddle.

NET Notes: Eze 17:3

¹ tn The parable assumes the defection of Zedekiah to Egypt and his rejection of Babylonian lordship.

² sn The great eagle symbolizes Nebuchadnezzar (17:12).

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 tn This term was used in 16:10, 13, and 18 of embroidered cloth.

⁵ sn In the parable Lebanon apparently refers to Jerusalem (17:12).

NET Notes: Eze 17:5

¹ 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.

² tn Heb “a field for seed.”