2 c“Son of man, dpropound a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel; 3 say, Thus says the Lord God: eA great eagle fwith great wings and long pinions, frich in plumage of many colors, came gto Lebanon hand took the top of the cedar. 4 He broke off the topmost of its young twigs and carried it to a land of trade and set it in a city of merchants. 5 Then he took of the seed of the land iand planted it in fertile soil.1 He placed it beside abundant waters. jHe set it like a willow twig, 6 and it sprouted and became a klow lspreading vine, and its branches turned toward him, and its roots remained where it stood. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out boughs.
7 m“And there was another great eagle with great wings and much plumage, mand behold, this vine bent its roots toward him and shot forth its branches toward him from nthe bed where it was planted, that he might water it. 8 iIt had been planted on good soil by abundant waters, that it might produce branches and bear fruit and become a noble vine.
9 “Say, Thus says the Lord God: mWill it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, so that it withers, so that all its fresh sprouting leaves wither? It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it from its roots. 10 Behold, it is planted; will it thrive? oWill it not utterly wither when the east wind strikes it—wither away on the bed where it sprouted?”
10 Your mother was ilike a vine in a vineyard1
planted by the water,
jfruitful and full of branches
kby reason of abundant water.
11 Its strong stems became
rulers’ scepters;
it towered aloft
among the thick boughs;2
it was seen in its height
with the mass of its branches.
12 But the vine was plucked up in fury,
cast down to the ground;
lthe east wind dried up its fruit;
they were stripped off and withered.
As for its strong stem,
fire consumed it.
13 mNow it is planted in the wilderness,
in a dry and thirsty land.
14 nAnd fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots,
has consumed its fruit,
oso that there remains in it no strong stem,
no scepter for ruling.
This is pa lamentation and has become a lamentation.
