Ezekiel 17:5

17:5 He took one of the seedlings ¹  of the land,

placed it in a cultivated plot; ² 

a shoot by abundant water,

like a willow he planted it.

Ezekiel 17:13

17:13 He took one from the royal family, ³  made a treaty with him, and put him under oath. ⁴  He then took the leaders of the land

Ezekiel 10:7

10:7 Then one of the cherubim ⁵  stretched out his hand ⁶  toward the fire which was among the cherubim. He took some and put it into the hands of the man dressed in linen, who took it and left.

Ezekiel 17:3

17:3 Say to them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: ⁷ 

“‘A great eagle ⁸  with broad wings, long feathers, ⁹ 

with full plumage which was multi-hued, ¹⁰ 

came to Lebanon ¹¹  and took the top of the cedar.

Ezekiel 17:12

17:12 “Say to the rebellious house of Israel: ¹²  ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ ¹³  Say: ‘See here, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem ¹⁴  and took her king and her officials prisoner and brought them to himself in Babylon.

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.”

³ tn Or “descendants”; Heb “seed” (cf. v. 5).

⁴ tn Heb “caused him to enter into an oath.”

⁵ tn Heb “the cherub.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds, “from among the cherubim.”

⁷ tn The parable assumes the defection of Zedekiah to Egypt and his rejection of Babylonian lordship.

⁸ sn The great eagle symbolizes Nebuchadnezzar (17:12).

⁹ 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).

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

¹¹ sn In the parable Lebanon apparently refers to Jerusalem (17:12).

⁹ tn The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.

¹⁰ sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.

¹¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.