The Father's Riddle of Two Eagles
17 1 The word of our Father came to me:
2 "Son of man, pose a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel, 3 and say, The Sovereign Father says: A great eagle with great wings, long feathers, and full many-colored plumage came to Lebanon and took the cedar's top. 4 He cropped off the topmost of its young twigs and carried it to a land of trade; he set it in a city of merchants. 5 Then he took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil; he set it beside abundant waters to grow like a willow. 6 And it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine, whose branches turned toward the eagle and whose roots stayed under it. So it became a vine, put out branches, and sent out shoots. 7 But there was another great eagle with great wings and much plumage, and this vine bent its roots toward him and stretched out its branches toward him to draw more water from him than from the bed where it was planted. 8 It had been planted in good soil beside abundant waters, that it might grow branches and bear fruit and become a noble vine.
9 Say, This is what the Sovereign Father says: Will it thrive? Won't he pull up its roots and strip its fruit, so all its fresh new leaves wither? No strong arm or great crowd will be needed to tear it out by the roots. 10 Even though it is planted, will it thrive? Will it not utterly wither when the east wind strikes it—wither away on the bed where it grew?
11 Then the word of our Father came to me:
12 Say to the rebellious house: Don't you know what these mean? Tell them: The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, took its king and officials, and brought them back to Babylon. 13 He took one of the royal offspring, made a covenant with him under oath, and carried off the land's leading men, 14 so the kingdom would be humbled and not rise again, but by keeping his covenant might survive. 15 But Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon, sending envoys to Egypt for horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will the one who does this escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?
16 As I live, declares the Sovereign Father, he will die in Babylon, where the king who made him king lives—whose oath he despised, whose covenant he broke. 17 Pharaoh with his mighty army and vast forces won't help him in war, when siege ramps rise and siege walls are built to cut off many lives. 18 He despised the oath, broke the covenant; he had given his hand, yet did all this—he will not escape.
19 So the Sovereign Father says: As I live, I will bring down on his own head my oath he despised and my covenant he broke. 20 I will spread my net over him; he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there for the treachery he committed against me. 21 The finest warriors in his troops will fall by the sword, and survivors scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, your Father, have spoken.
22 This is what the Sovereign Father says: I myself will take a sprig from the cedar's lofty top and plant it. From its topmost young twigs I will break a tender shoot and I myself will plant it on a high, towering mountain. a a v22 Where the kingdoms of men fail, our Father promises to plant a tender shoot of his own—the coming King from David's line, fulfilled in Jesus, who grows into the kingdom that shelters all peoples. 23 On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, and it will put out branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. Under it every kind of bird will dwell, nesting in the shade of its branches. 24 And all the trees of the field will know that I am the Father, who brings down the tall tree and makes the low tree grow tall, who dries up the green tree and makes the dry tree flourish. I, the Father, have spoken, and I will do it.
