Ezekiel 17–19

The Eagle and the Vine

17The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ²“Human, give a riddle and tell a story to the people of Israel. ³Say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: A giant eagle with big wings and long feathers of many different colors came to Lebanon and took hold of the top of a cedar tree. ⁴He pulled off the top branch and brought it to a land of traders, where he planted it in a city of traders.

⁵“ ‘The eagle took some seed from the land and planted it in a good field near plenty of water. He planted it to grow like a willow tree. ⁶It sprouted and became a low vine that spread over the ground. The branches turned toward the eagle, but the roots were under the eagle. So the seed became a vine, and its branches grew, sending out leaves.

⁷“ ‘But there was another giant eagle with big wings and many feathers. The vine then bent its roots toward this eagle. It sent out its branches from the area where it was planted toward the eagle so he could water it. ⁸It had been planted in a good field by plenty of water so it could grow branches and give fruit. It could have become a fine vine.’

⁹“Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: The vine will not continue to grow. The first eagle will pull up the vine’s roots and strip off its fruit. Then the vine and all its new leaves will dry up and die. It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull the vine up by its roots. ¹⁰Even if it is planted again, it will not continue to grow. It will completely dry up and die when the east wind hits it in the area where it grew.’ ”

Zedekiah Against Nebuchadnezzar

¹¹Then the Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ¹²“Say now to the people who refuse to obey: ‘Do you know what these things mean?’ Say: ‘The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took the king and important men of Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon. ¹³Then he took a member of the family of the king of Judah and made an agreement with him, forcing him to take an oath. The king also took away the leaders of Judah ¹⁴to make the kingdom weak so it would not be strong again. Then the kingdom of Judah could continue only by keeping its agreement with the king of Babylon. ¹⁵But the king of Judah turned against the king of Babylon by sending his messengers to Egypt and asking them for horses and many soldiers. Will the king of Judah succeed? Will the one who does such things escape? He cannot break the agreement and escape.

¹⁶“ ‘As surely as I live, says the Lord God, he will die in Babylon, in the land of the king who made him king of Judah. The king of Judah hated his promise to the king of Babylon and broke his agreement with him. ¹⁷The king of Egypt with his mighty army and many people will not help the king of Judah in the war. The Babylonians will build devices to attack the cities and to kill many people. ¹⁸The king of Judah showed that he hated the promise by breaking the agreement. He promised to support Babylon, but he did all these things. So he will not escape.

¹⁹“ ‘So this is what the Lord God says: As surely as I live, this is true: I will pay back the king of Judah for hating my promise and breaking my agreement. ²⁰I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my trap. Then I will bring him to Babylon, where I will punish him for the unfaithful acts he did against me. ²¹All the best of his soldiers who escape will die by the sword, and those who live will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken.

²²“ ‘This is what the Lord God says: I myself will also take a young branch from the top of a cedar tree, and I will plant it. I will cut off a small twig from the top of the tree’s young branches, and I will plant it on a very high mountain. ²³I will plant it on the high mountain of Israel. Then it will grow branches and give fruit and become a great cedar tree. Birds of every kind will build nests in it and live in the shelter of the tree’s branches. ²⁴Then all the trees in the countryside will know that I am the Lord. I bring down the high tree and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree grow. I am the Lord. I have spoken, and I will do it.’ ”

God Is Fair

18The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ²“What do you mean by using this saying about the land of Israel:

‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,

and that caused the children to grind their teeth from the sour taste’?

³“As surely as I live, says the Lord God, this is true: You will not use this saying in Israel anymore. ⁴Every living thing belongs to me. The life of the parent is mine, and the life of the child is mine. The person who sins is the one who will die.

⁵“Suppose a person is good and does what is fair and right. ⁶He does not eat at the mountain places of worship. He does not look to the idols of Israel for help. He does not have sexual relations with his neighbor’s wife or with a woman during her time of monthly bleeding. ⁷He does not mistreat anyone but returns what was given as a promise for a loan. He does not rob other people. He gives bread to the hungry and clothes to those who have none. ⁸He does not lend money to get too much interest or profit. He keeps his hand from doing wrong. He judges fairly between one person and another. ⁹He lives by my rules and obeys my laws faithfully. Whoever does these things is good and will surely live, says the Lord God.

¹⁰“But suppose this person has a wild son who murders people and who does any of these other things. ¹¹(But the father himself has not done any of these things.) This son eats at the mountain places of worship. He has sexual relations with his neighbor’s wife. ¹²He mistreats the poor and needy. He steals and refuses to return what was promised for a loan. He looks to idols for help. He does things which I hate. ¹³He lends money for too much interest and profit. Will this son live? No, he will not live! He has done all these hateful things, so he will surely be put to death. He will be responsible for his own death.

¹⁴“Now suppose this son has a son who has seen all his father’s sins, but after seeing them does not do those things. ¹⁵He does not eat at the mountain places of worship. He does not look to the idols of Israel for help. He does not have sexual relations with his neighbor’s wife. ¹⁶He does not mistreat anyone or keep something promised for a loan or steal. He gives bread to the hungry and clothes to those who have none. ¹⁷He keeps his hand from doing wrong. He does not take too much interest or profit when he lends money. He obeys my laws and lives by my rules. He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live. ¹⁸But his father took other people’s money unfairly and robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people. So he will die for his own sin.

¹⁹“But you ask, ‘Why is the son not punished for the father’s sin?’ The son has done what is fair and right. He obeys all my rules, so he will surely live. ²⁰The person who sins is the one who will die. A child will not be punished for a parent’s sin, and a parent will not be punished for a child’s sin. Those who do right will enjoy the results of their own goodness; evil people will suffer the results of their own evil.

²¹“But suppose the wicked stop doing all the sins they have done and obey all my rules and do what is fair and right. Then they will surely live; they will not die. ²²Their sins will be forgotten. Because they have done what is right, they will live. ²³I do not really want the wicked to die, says the Lord God. I want them to stop their bad ways and live.

²⁴“But suppose good people stop doing good and do wrong and do the same hateful things the wicked do. Will they live? All their good acts will be forgotten, because they became unfaithful. They have sinned, so they will die because of their sins.

²⁵“But you say, ‘What the Lord does isn’t fair.’ Listen, people of Israel. I am fair. It is what you do that is not fair! ²⁶When good people stop doing good and do wrong, they will die because of it. They will die, because they did wrong. ²⁷When the wicked stop being wicked and do what is fair and right, they will save their lives. ²⁸Because they thought about it and stopped doing all the sins they had done, they will surely live; they will not die. ²⁹But the people of Israel still say, ‘What the Lord does isn’t fair.’ People of Israel, I am fair. It is what you do that is not fair.

³⁰“So I will judge you, people of Israel; I will judge each of you by what you do, says the Lord God. Change your hearts and stop all your sinning so sin will not bring your ruin. ³¹Get rid of all the sins you have done, and get for yourselves a new heart and a new way of thinking. Why do you want to die, people of Israel? ³²I do not want anyone to die, says the Lord God, so change your hearts and lives so you may live.

A Sad Song for Israel

19“Sing a funeral song for the leaders of Israel. ²Say:

‘Your mother was like a female lion.

She lay down among the young lions.

She had many cubs.

³When she brought up one of her cubs,

he became a strong lion.

He learned to tear the animals he hunted,

and he ate people.

⁴The nations heard about him.

He was trapped in their pit,

and they brought him with hooks

to the land of Egypt.

⁵“ ‘The mother lion waited and saw

that there was no hope for her cub.

So she took another one of her cubs

and made him a strong lion.

⁶This cub roamed among the lions.

He was now a strong lion.

He learned to tear the animals he hunted,

and he ate people.

⁷He tore down their strong places

and destroyed their cities.

The land and everything in it

were terrified by the sound of his roar.

⁸Then the nations came against him

from areas all around,

and they spread their net over him.

He was trapped in their pit.

⁹Then they put him into a cage with chains

and brought him to the king of Babylon.

They put him into prison

so his roar could not be heard again

on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁰“ ‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard,

planted beside the water.

The vine had many branches and…