Ezekiel 17:2

17:2 “Son of man, offer a riddle, ¹  and tell a parable to the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 19:2-14

19:2 and say:

“‘What a lioness was your mother among the lions!

She lay among young lions; ²  she reared her cubs.

19:3 She reared one of her cubs; he became a young lion.

He learned to tear prey; he devoured people. ³ 

19:4 The nations heard about him; he was trapped in their pit.

They brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt. ⁴ 

19:5 “‘When she realized that she waited in vain, her hope was lost.

She took another of her cubs ⁵  and made him a young lion.

19:6 He walked about among the lions; he became a young lion.

He learned to tear prey; he devoured people.

19:7 He broke down ⁶  their strongholds ⁷  and devastated their cities.

The land and everything in it was frightened at the sound of his roaring.

19:8 The nations – the surrounding regions – attacked him.

They threw their net over him; he was caught in their pit.

19:9 They put him in a collar with hooks; ⁸ 

they brought him to the king of Babylon;

they brought him to prison ⁹ 

so that his voice would not be heard

any longer on the mountains of Israel.

19:10 “‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, ¹⁰  planted by water.

It was fruitful and full of branches because it was well-watered.

19:11 Its boughs were strong, fit ¹¹  for rulers’ scepters; it reached up into the clouds.

It stood out because of its height and its many branches. ¹² 

19:12 But it was plucked up in anger; it was thrown down to the ground.

The east wind ¹³  dried up its fruit;

its strong branches broke off and withered –

a fire consumed them.

19:13 Now it is planted in the wilderness,

in a dry and thirsty land. ¹⁴ 

19:14 A fire has gone out from its branch; it has consumed its shoot and its fruit. ¹⁵ 

No strong branch was left in it, nor a scepter to rule.’

This is a lament song, and has become a lament song.”

Ezekiel 20:49

20:49 Then I said, “O sovereign Lord! They are saying of me, ‘Does he not simply speak in eloquent figures of speech?’”

Psalms 78:2

78:2 I will sing a song that imparts wisdom;

I will make insightful observations about the past. ¹⁶ 

Micah 2:4

2:4 In that day people will sing this taunt song to you –

they will mock you with this lament: ¹⁷ 

‘We are completely destroyed;

they sell off ¹⁸  the property of my people.

How they remove it from me! ¹⁹ 

They assign our fields to the conqueror.’ ²⁰ 

Mark 12:12

12:12 Now ²¹  they wanted to arrest him (but they feared the crowd), because they realized that he told this parable against them. So ²²  they left him and went away. ²³ 

Luke 8:10

8:10 He ²⁴  said, “You have been given ²⁵  the opportunity to know ²⁶  the secrets ²⁷  of the kingdom of God, ²⁸  but for others they are in parables, so that although they see they may not see, and although they hear they may not understand. ²⁹ 

[17:2]  ¹ sn The verb occurs elsewhere in the OT only in Judg 14:12-19, where Samson supplies a riddle.

[19:2]  ² sn Lions probably refer to Judahite royalty and/or nobility. The lioness appears to symbolize the Davidic dynasty, though some see the referent as Hamutal, the wife of Josiah and mother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah. Gen 49:9 seems to be the background for Judah being compared to lions.

[19:3]  ³ tn Heb “a man.”

[19:4]  ⁴ sn The description applies to king Jehoahaz (2 Kgs 23:31-34; Jer 22:10-12).

[19:5]  ⁵ sn The identity of this second lion is unclear; the referent is probably Jehoiakim or Zedekiah. If the lioness is Hamutal, then Zedekiah is the lion described here.

[19:7]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads “knew,” but is apparently the result of a ר-ד (dalet-resh) confusion. For a defense of the emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:284. However, Allen retains the reading “widows” as the object of the verb, which he understands in the sense of “do harm to,” and translates the line: “He did harm to women by making them widows” (p. 282). The line also appears to be lacking a beat for the meter of the poem.

[19:7]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads “widows” instead of “strongholds,” apparently due to a confusion of ר (resh) and ל (lamed). L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:284) favors the traditional text, understanding “widows” in the sense of “women made widows.” D. I. Block, (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:602) also defends the Hebrew text, arguing that the image is that of a dominant male lion who takes over the pride and by copulating with the females lays claim to his predecessor’s “widows.”

[19:9]  ⁸ tn Or “They put him in a neck stock with hooks.” The noun סּוּגַר (sugar), translated “collar,” occurs only here in the Bible. L. C. Allen and D. I. Block point out a Babylonian cognate that refers to a device for transporting prisoners of war that held them by their necks (D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:597, n. 35; L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:284). Based on the Hebrew root, the traditional rendering had been “cage” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[19:9]  ⁹ tc The term in the MT occurs only here and in Eccl 9:12 where it refers to a net for catching fish. The LXX translates this as “prison,” which assumes a confusion of dalet and resh took place in the MT.

[19:10]  ¹⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads “in your blood,” but most emend to “in your vineyard,” assuming a ב-כ (beth-kaph) confusion. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:284. Another attractive emendation assumes a faulty word division and yields the reading “like a vine full of tendrils, which/because…”; see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:607, n. 68.

[19:11]  ¹¹ tn The word “fit” does not occur in the Hebrew text.

[19:11]  ¹² tn Heb “and it was seen by its height and by the abundance of its branches.”

[19:12]  ¹³ sn The east wind symbolizes the Babylonians.

[19:13]  ¹⁴ sn This metaphor depicts the Babylonian exile of the Davidic dynasty.

[19:14]  ¹⁵ tn The verse describes the similar situation recorded in Judg 9:20.

[78:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I will open with a wise saying my mouth, I will utter insightful sayings from long ago.” Elsewhere the Hebrew word pair חִידָה+מָשָׁל (mashal + khidah) refers to a taunt song (Hab 2:6), a parable (Ezek 17:2), proverbial sayings (Prov 1:6), and an insightful song that reflects on the mortality of humankind and the ultimate inability of riches to prevent death (Ps 49:4).

[2:4]  ¹⁷ tc The form נִהְיָה (nihyah) should be omitted as dittographic (note the preceding וְנָהָה נְהִי vÿnahah nÿhiy).

[2:4]  ¹⁸ tn Or “exchange.” The LXX suggests a reading יִמַּד (yimmad) from מָדַד (madad, “to measure”). In this case one could translate, “the property of my people is measured out [i.e., for resale].”

[2:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “how one removes for me.” Apparently the preposition has the nuance “from” here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[2:4]  ²⁰ tc The Hebrew term שׁוֹבֵב (shovev, “the one turning back”) elsewhere has the nuance “apostate” (cf. NASB) or “traitor” (cf. NIV). The translation assumes an emendation to שָׁבָה (shavah, “captor”).

[12:12]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to introduce a somewhat parenthetical remark by the author.

[12:12]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[12:12]  ²³ sn The point of the parable in Mark 12:1-12 is that the leaders of the nation have been rejected by God and the vineyard (v. 9, referring to the nation and its privileged status) will be taken from them and given to others (an allusion to the Gentiles).

[8:10]  ²⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[8:10]  ²⁵ tn This is an example of a so-called “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).

[8:10]  ²⁶ tn Grk “it has been given to you to know.” The dative pronoun occurs first, in emphatic position in the Greek text, although this position is awkward in contemporary English.

[8:10]  ²⁷ tn Grk “the mysteries.”

[8:10]  ²⁸ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[8:10]  ²⁹ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9. Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach.