Ezekiel 17:4
in Ezekiel 17He plucked off its topmost shoot, carried it to the land of merchants, and planted it in a city of traders.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
he cropped off the topmost of the young twigs thereof, and carried it unto a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants.
KJV
He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
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This verse in Ezekiel 17
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThe top of his young twigs - The princes of Judah. A land of traffic - Chaldea. A city of merchants - Babylon; for which this city was the most celebrated of all the cities of the east. Its situation procured it innumerable advantages; its two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Persian Gulf, gave it communication with the richest and the most distant nations.
This site's exposition
A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers
on Ezekiel 17:3-6
The first eagle, Nebuchadnezzar, takes the highest branch of Lebanon's cedar, Jehoiachin, and carries it to Babylon. The seed of the land, Zedekiah, is planted low, a vine rather than a cedar. Keil reads the vine's low stature as the historical fact plainly stated in 2 Kings 24:17.
This site's exposition
the land of merchants
Clarke names the land of merchants Chaldea and the city of traders Babylon, set between the Tigris and the Euphrates, the market of the east. The topmost shoot is the young king Jehoiachin with the princes of Judah. Ezekiel went into exile with them.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(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
The top - Both the king of Judah, now eighteen years old, and the nobles and chief of the land. Into a land - Babylon, which was a city of mighty trade.
He cropped off the top of his young twigs,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A land of traffick - The land of Babylon.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵ֛ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| רֹ֥אשׁ | rosh | [the] top | H7218 → | 599 times |
| יְנִֽיקוֹתָ֖יו | yenikotav | shoots its | H3242 → | |
| קָטָ֑ף | kataf | it plucked off | H6998 → | |
| וַיְבִיאֵ֙הוּ֙ | vayviehu | and it brought it | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֶ֣רֶץ | ʾeretz | a land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| כְּנַ֔עַן | kenaan | merchant[s] | H3667 → | |
| בְּעִ֥יר | beir | in a city of | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| רֹכְלִ֖ים | rokhelim | traders | H7402 → | 17 times |
| שָׂמֽוֹ׃ | samo | it placed it | H7760 → | 584 times |
אֵ֛ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
רֹ֥אשׁ[the] top
roshH7218 →599 times
יְנִֽיקוֹתָ֖יוshoots its
yenikotavH3242 →
קָטָ֑ףit plucked off
katafH6998 →
וַיְבִיאֵ֙הוּ֙and it brought it
vayviehuH935 →2568 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֶ֣רֶץa land of
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
כְּנַ֔עַןmerchant[s]
kenaanH3667 →
בְּעִ֥ירin a city of
beirH5892 →1090 times
רֹכְלִ֖יםtraders
rokhelimH7402 →17 times
שָׂמֽוֹ׃it placed it
samoH7760 →584 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Revelation 18:3All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance…
it leads to
- Revelation 17:2
The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.”
- Revelation 14:8
Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”
- Revelation 18:9
Then the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her.
- Jeremiah 51:7
Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.
- Revelation 18:23
The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voices of a bride and bridegroom will never call out in you again. For your merchants were the great ones of…
- Revelation 17:2
Through
Jeremiah 51:13You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come; the thread of your life is cut.
it leads to
- Revelation 17:1
Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
- Isaiah 45:3
I will give you the treasures of darkness and the riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name.
- Revelation 17:1
Through
Isaiah 43:14Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake, I will send to Babylon and bring them all as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they…
it leads to
- Isaiah 23:13
Look at the land of the Chaldeans—a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces. They brought it to…
- Isaiah 23:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Ezekiel
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; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.