¹ And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

² `Son of man, put forth a riddle, and use a simile unto the house of Israel,

³ and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: The great eagle, great-winged, long-pinioned, Full of feathers, that hath diverse colours, Hath come in unto Lebanon, And it taketh the foliage of the cedar,

⁴ The top of its tender twigs it hath cropped, And it bringeth it in to the land of Canaan. In a city of merchants it hath placed it.

⁵ And it taketh of the seed of the land, And doth put it in a field of seed, To take by many waters, In a conspicuous place it hath set it.

⁶ And it springeth up, and becometh a spreading vine, humble of stature, To turn its thin shoots toward itself, And its roots are under it, And it becometh a vine, and maketh boughs, And sendeth forth beauteous branches.

⁷ And there is another great eagle, Great-winged, and abounding with feathers, And lo, this vine hath bent its roots toward him, And its thin shoots it hath sent out toward him, To water it from the furrows of its planting,

⁸ On a good field, by many waters, it is planted, To make branches, and to bear fruit, To be for an goodly vine.

⁹ Say: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: It prospereth -- its roots doth he not draw out, And its fruit cut off, and it is withered? [In] all the leaves of its springing it withereth, And not by great strength, and by a numerous people, To lift it up by its roots.

¹⁰ And lo, the planted thing -- doth it prosper? When come against it doth the east wind, Doth it not utterly wither? On the furrows of its springing it withereth.'

¹¹ And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying:

¹² `Say, I pray thee, to the rebellious house, Have ye not known what these [are]? Say, Lo, come hath the king of Babylon to Jerusalem, And he taketh its king, and its princes, And bringeth them to himself to Babylon.

¹³ And he taketh of the seed of the kingdom, And maketh with him a covenant, And bringeth him in to an oath, And the mighty of the land he hath taken,

¹⁴ That the kingdom may be humble, That it may not lift itself up, To keep his covenant -- that it may stand.

¹⁵ And he rebelleth against him, To send his messengers to Egypt, To give to him horses, and much people, Doth he prosper? doth he escape who is doing these things? And hath he broken covenant and escaped?

¹⁶ I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Doth he not -- in the place of the king who is causing him to reign, Whose oath he hath despised, And whose covenant he hath broken, With him -- in the midst of Babylon -- die?

¹⁷ And not with a great force, and with a numerous assembly, Doth Pharaoh maintain him in battle, By pouring out a mount, and in building a fortification, To cut off many souls.

¹⁸ And he despised the oath -- to break covenant, And lo, he hath given his hand, And all these he hath done, he escapeth not.

¹⁹ Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: I live -- Mine oath that he hath despised, And My covenant that he hath broken, Have I not put it on his head?

²⁰ And I have spread out for him My snare, And he hath been caught in My net, And I have brought him in to Babylon, And pleaded with him there his trespass, That he hath trespassed against Me.

²¹ And all his fugitives, with all his bands, By sword do fall, and those remaining, To every wind they are spread out, And ye have known that I, Jehovah, have spoken.

²² Thus said the Lord Jehovah: I have taken of the foliage of the high cedar, And I have set [it], From the top of its tender shoots a tender one I crop, And I -- I have planted [it] on a mountain high and lofty.

²³ In a mountain -- the high place of Israel, I plant it, And it hath borne boughs, and yielded fruit, And become a goodly cedar, And dwelt under it have all birds of every wing, In the shade of its thin shoots they dwell.

²⁴ And known have all trees of the field That I, Jehovah, have made low the high tree, I have set on high the low tree, I have dried up the moist tree, And I have caused the dry tree to flourish, I, Jehovah, have spoken, and have done [it]!'

¹ In his days hath Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon come up, and Jehoiakim is to him a servant three years; and he turneth and rebelleth against him,

² and Jehovah sendeth against him the troops of the Chaldeans, and the troops of Aram, and the troops of Moab, and the troops of the sons of Ammon, and He sendeth them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Jehovah, that He spake by the hand of His servants the prophets;

³ only, by the command of Jehovah it hath been against Judah to turn [them] aside from His presence, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did,

⁴ and also the innocent blood that he hath shed, and he filleth Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Jehovah was not willing to forgive.

⁵ And the rest of the matters of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?

⁶ And Jehoiakim lieth with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigneth in his stead.

⁷ And the king of Egypt hath not added any more to go out from his own land, for the king of Babylon hath taken, from the brook of Egypt unto the river Phrat, all that had been to the king of Egypt.

⁸ A son of eighteen years [is] Jehoiachin in his reigning, and three months he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem,

⁹ and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers did.

¹⁰ At that time come up have servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Jerusalem, and the city goeth into siege,

¹¹ and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon cometh against the city, and his servants are laying siege to it,

¹² and Jehoiachin king of Judah goeth out unto the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his chiefs, and his eunuchs, and the king of Babylon taketh him in the eighth year of his reign,

¹³ and bringeth out thence all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the house of the king, and cutteth in pieces all the vessels of gold that Solomon king of Israel made in the temple of Jehovah, as Jehovah had spoken.

¹⁴ And he hath removed all Jerusalem, and all the chiefs, and all the mighty ones of valour -- ten thousand [is] the removal -- and every artificer and smith, none hath been left save the poor of the people of the land.

¹⁵ And he removeth Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the mother of the king, and the wives of the king, and his eunuchs, and the mighty ones of the land -- he hath caused a removal to go from Jerusalem to Babylon,

¹⁶ and all the men of valour seven thousand, and the artificers and the smiths a thousand, the whole [are] mighty men, warriors; and the king of Babylon bringeth them in a captivity to Babylon.

¹⁷ And the king of Babylon causeth Mattaniah his father's brother to reign in his stead, and turneth his name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸ A son of twenty and one years [is] Zedekiah in his reigning, and eleven years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother [is] Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah,

¹⁹ and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah according to all that Jehoiakim did,

²⁰ for, by the anger of Jehovah it hath been against Jerusalem and against Judah, till he cast them out from His presence, that Zedekiah rebelleth against the king of Babylon.