Ezekiel 17:1

(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. […]

And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. After the prophet had been sent to charge the Jews with breaking the covenant with God, he is sent to rebuke and threaten them for breaking covenant with men, even with the king of Babylon; by whom they were in part carried into captivity, and another part remained in the land, as will be hereafter seen.

Ezekiel, after describing by a figure the circumstances and conditions of the Jews and Zedekiah, the vassal of the Assyrian monarch, warns them of the delusive character of their hopes of help from Egypt, protests against the perfidy which must accompany such alliance, and points out that the restoration of the people of God will be effected by a very different son of David. The close of this chapter is a striking prediction of the kingdom of the Messiah.