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Ezekiel 17:3

in Ezekiel 17

and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers of many colors, came to Lebanon and took away the top of the cedar.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar:

KJV

And say, Thus saith the Lord God; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:

This verse in Ezekiel 17

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
A great eagle ... - Probably the golden eagle, whose plumage has the variety of color here depicted. The eagle (the king of birds) is a natural representative of monarchs (compare, Jer 48:40), and was an Assyrian emblem. With great wings, Iongwinged - literally, “great of wing, long of pinion,” because he has swept victoriously over widely distant lands - of divers colors, because his subjects are of various races and tongues. Jerusalem is here called “Lebanon” because Lebanon is the proper home of the cedar.

This site's exposition

A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers

on Ezekiel 17:3-6

The first eagle, Babylon read through Nebuchadnezzar, takes the highest branch of Lebanon's cedar, Jehoiachin the king, and carries it to a city of merchants, Babylon itself. The seed of the land left behind, Zedekiah installed as a vassal, is planted low and by great waters, a vine rather than a cedar, deliberately kept small. Keil reads the vine's low stature as the historical fact plainly stated in 2 Kings 24:17, a puppet king meant to stay a puppet, and the vine's turning toward the eagle that planted it pictures the vassal's proper obligation.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 11:5 · Written before 253.

proposed

He came to that Lebanon, which is the church, where the offerings of God and the incense of his prayers are celebrated, that great true evil, Nebuchadnezzar, that is, the devil, and he sees it.

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Chapter 17, Verse 1 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, propose a riddle, tell a parable to the house of Israel, and say: Thus says the Lord God: A great eagle with large wings, long feathers, full of plumage and variety, came to Lebanon and took the topmost branch of a cedar. It plucked off the highest of its young twigs and carried it to the land of Canaan, and set it in a city of merchants. And he took of the seed of the land, and planted it in the ground for seed so that it would establish roots over many waters; he set it on the surface. And when it sprouted, it grew into a vine of wide spread with low stature: its branches turned toward it and its roots were under it. Thus the vineyard was made and it bore fruit in the form of tendrils and it sent out shoots. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, tell a story and speak a parable to the house of Israel, and say: This is what the Lord God says: A great eagle with great wings, full of long feathers, with long wings and full of talons, came and took from among the choice cedars. He uprooted the tops of its tender shoots and brought them to the land of Chanaan. He put it in a walled city and took it from the seed of the land and planted it in a field over many waters, so that it would be seen. He planted it and it grew into a weak and small vine, so that only its branches could be seen beneath it, and its roots were underneath it. And it became a great vine and produced branches and extended its branches. When it is said of the prophets: Present an enigma, tell a parable, or as the Septuagint translated: tell a narration, it is shown that what is said is obscure. For there is no doubt that to present an enigma and a parable is to express something in words and hold something in meaning. […]

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

A great eagle - Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is compared to a great eagle, the king of birds, swift, strong, rapacious. Great wings - Mighty provinces on each side of his kingdom. Long winged - His kingdom was widely extended.
And say, thus saith the Lord God,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

"The mountain of the Lord's house" (Isa 2:2). Jerusalem, however, is chiefly meant, the chief seat of civil honor, as Lebanon was of external elevation. took the highest branch--King Jeconiah, then but eighteen years old, and many of the chiefs and people with him (2Ki 24:8, 12-16). The Hebrew for "highest branch" is, properly, the fleece-like tuft at the top of the tree.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

A great eagle - Nebuchadnezzar. See Jer 48:40; Jer 49:22; Dan 7:4. And see here, Dan 7:12, where it is so applied. Great wings - Extensive empire. Long-winged - Rapid in his conquests. Full of feathers - Having multitudes of subjects. Divers colors - People of various nations. Came unto Lebanon - Came against Judea. The highest branch - King Jehoiachin he took captive to Babylon. The cedar - The Jewish state and king.

The words behind it

23 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְאָמַרְתָּ֞and you will say

    veamartaH5595305 times

  • כֹּה־thus

    koh-H3541577 times

  • אָמַ֣ר׀he says

    ʾamarH5595305 times

  • אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord

    ʾadonaiH136440 times

  • יְהוִ֗הYahweh

    yahwehH3069306 times

  • הַנֶּ֤שֶׁרthe eagle

    hanesherH540426 times

  • הַגָּדוֹל֙<the> great

    hagadolH1419526 times

  • גְּד֤וֹל<the> great of

    gedolH1419526 times

  • הַכְּנָפַ֙יִם֙<the> wings

    hakenafayimH3671109 times

  • אֶ֣רֶךְ<the> long of

    ʾerekhH750

  • הָאֵ֔בֶר<the> pinion

    haeverH83

  • מָלֵא֙full

    male'H439264 times

  • הַנּוֹצָ֔ה<the> plumage

    hanotzahH5133

  • אֲשֶׁר־which

    ʾasher-H8345497 times

  • ל֖וֹ[belonged] to it

    lo

  • הָֽרִקְמָ֑ה<the> variegated plumage

    harikmahH755312 times

  • בָּ֚אit came

    ba'H9352568 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • הַלְּבָנ֔וֹן<the> Lebanon

    halevanonH384471 times

  • וַיִּקַּ֖חand it took

    vaiyikachH3947966 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • צַמֶּ֥רֶת[the] treetop of

    tzameretH67885 times

  • הָאָֽרֶז׃the cedar

    haarezH73073 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Hosea 8:1

    Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 28:49

      The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand,

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Hosea 6:7

      But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.

    • Jeremiah 4:13

      Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!

  • Through

    Jeremiah 4:13

    Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!

    it leads to

    • Lamentations 4:19

      Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Habakkuk 1:8

      Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Isaiah 19:1

      This is the burden against Egypt: Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud; He is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians will…

    • Isaiah 66:15

      For behold, the LORD will come with fire—His chariots are like a whirlwind—to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 48:40

    For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, an eagle swoops down and spreads his wings against Moab.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 8:8

      It will pour into Judah, swirling and sweeping over it, reaching up to the neck; its spreading streams will cover your entire land, O Immanuel!

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Ezekiel

The Prophet Ezekiel, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Ezekiel, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 11:5.