Ezekiel 17:2

Contemporary English Version

Ezekiel, son of man, tell the people of Israel the following story,

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Son of man, pose a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel.

Hebrew Names Version
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Yisra'el;

King James Version
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;

English Standard Version
"Son of man, propound a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel;

New American Standard Bible
"Son of man, ask a riddle and present a parable to the house of Israel,

New Century Version
"Human, give a riddle and tell a story to the people of Israel.

Amplified Bible
"Son of man, ask a riddle and tell a parable to the house of Israel,

World English Bible
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel;

Geneva Bible (1587)
Sonne of man, put foorth a parable and speake a prouerbe vnto the house of Israel,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Son of man, propound a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel,

Legacy Standard Bible
"Son of man, propound a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel,

Berean Standard Bible
"Son of man, pose a riddle; speak a parable to the house of Israel

Complete Jewish Bible
"Human being, propound this riddle, tell the house of Isra'el this allegory,

Darby Translation
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel,

Easy-to-Read Version
"Son of man, I have a story with a hidden meaning for you to tell the family of Israel.

George Lamsa Translation
Son of man, put forth a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel,

Good News Translation
"Mortal man," he said, "tell the Israelites a parable

Lexham English Bible
"Son of man, tell a riddle and quote a proverb to the house of Israel,

Literal Translation
Son of man, put forth a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thou sonne of man: put forth a darcke speakynge and a parable, vnto the house of Israel,

American Standard Version
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;

Bible in Basic English
Son of man, give out a dark saying, and make a comparison for the children of Israel,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
'Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel,

King James Version (1611)
Sonne of man, put foorth a riddle, and speake a parable vnto the house of Israel,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thou sonne of man, put foorth a parable, & speake a prouerbe vnto the house of Israel,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Son of man, relate a tale, and speak a parable to the house of Israel:

English Revised Version
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and he seide, Sone of man, sette forth a derk speche, and telle thou a parable to the hous of Israel;

Update Bible Version
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel;

Webster's Bible Translation
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel;

New English Translation
"Son of man, offer a riddle, and tell a parable to the house of Israel.

New King James Version
"Son of man, pose a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel,

New Living Translation
"Son of man, give this riddle, and tell this story to the people of Israel.

New Life Bible
"Son of man, give the people of Israel this picture-story to think about.

New Revised Standard
O mortal, propound a riddle, and speak an allegory to the house of Israel.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Son of man Put thou forth a riddle And speak thou a parable,- Unto the house of Israel:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel,

Revised Standard Version
"Son of man, propound a riddle, and speak an allegory to the house of Israel;

Young's Literal Translation
`Son of man, put forth a riddle, and use a simile unto the house of Israel,

Contextual Overview

¹ The Lord said: ² Ezekiel, son of man, tell the people of Israel the following story, ³ so they will understand what I am saying to them: A large eagle with strong wings and beautiful feathers once flew to Lebanon. It broke the top branch off a cedar tree, ⁴ then carried it to a nation of merchants and left it in one of their cities. ⁵ The eagle also took seed from Israel and planted it in a fertile field with plenty of water, like a willow tree beside a stream. ⁶ The seed sprouted and grew into a grapevine that spread over the ground. It had lots of leaves and strong, deep roots, and its branches grew upward toward the eagle. ⁷ There was another eagle with strong wings and thick feathers. The roots and branches of the grapevine soon turned toward this eagle, hoping it would bring water for the soil. ⁸ But the vine was already growing in fertile soil, where there was plenty of water to produce healthy leaves and large grapes. ⁹ Now tell me, Ezekiel, do you think this grapevine will live? Or will the first eagle pull it up by its roots and pluck off the grapes and let its new leaves die? The eagle could easily kill it without the help of a large and powerful army. ¹⁰ The grapevine is strong and healthy, but as soon as the scorching desert wind blows, it will quickly wither.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Ezekiel 20:49, Judges 9:8-15, Judges 14:12-19, 2 Samuel 12:1-4, Hosea 12:10, Matthew 13:13, Matthew 13:14, Matthew 13:35, Mark 4:33, Mark 4:34, 1 Corinthians 13:12

Reciprocal: Numbers 12:8 - dark speeches Numbers 23:7 - he took Jeremiah 23:5 - Branch Ezekiel 2:1 - Son Ezekiel 24:3 - utter Matthew 13:24 - put Mark 12:15 - Why Luke 14:7 - put

Cross-References

Genesis 9:9
I am going to make a solemn promise to you and to everyone who will live after you.

Genesis 12:2
I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others.

Genesis 13:16
I will give you more descendants than there are specks of dust on the earth, and someday it will be easier to count the specks of dust than to count your descendants.

Genesis 15:18
At that time the Lord made an agreement with Abram and told him: I will give your descendants the land east of the Shihor River on the border of Egypt as far as the Euphrates River.

Genesis 17:4
I promise that you will be the father of many nations. That's why I now change your name from Abram to Abraham.

Genesis 17:6
I will give you a lot of descendants, and in the future they will become great nations. Some of them will even be kings.

Genesis 17:8
I will give you and them the land in which you are now a foreigner. I will give the whole land of Canaan to your family forever, and I will be their God.

Genesis 17:17
Abraham bowed with his face to the ground and thought, "I am almost a hundred years old. How can I become a father? And Sarah is ninety. How can she have a child?" So he started laughing.

Genesis 17:18
Then he asked God, "Why not let Ishmael inherit what you have promised me?"

Genesis 22:17
"I will bless you and give you such a large family, that someday your descendants will be more numerous than the stars in the sky or the grains of sand along the beach. They will defeat their enemies and take over the cities where their enemies live.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Son of man, put forth a riddle,.... A dark saying, but a smart one: "whet a whetting" k, as in the Hebrew; something at first sight difficult to be understood, yet amusing and entertaining; and, when solved, very useful and instructive:

and speak a parable unto the house of Israel; or, "concerning the house of Israel" l; as the Targum and Syriac version; something relating to them, and what would aptly describe and represent their case; for the prophet was bid to take such a method, not to hide things from them, but rather the more strongly to represent them to them; seeing hereby their attention would be excited, and things would be more fixed in their memories, and they would be put upon studying the meaning of them; and when explained to them, and understood, which was quickly done, they might be the more affected with them.

k חוד חידה, Heb. "acue acumen", Piscator. l אל בית ישראל "de domo Israelis", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 17:2. Son of man, put forth a riddle — Riddle, [Anglo-Saxon] or [A.S.], Anglo-Saxon, from [A.S.] to divine; a thing that must be curiously investigated and sifted, to find out the meaning; and hence, riddle, a sort of coarse sieve to clean corn, to separate coarse chaff and straws from the pure grain. An instrument formerly used for divination. This is not far removed from the Hebrew חידה chidah, from חד chad, to penetrate; not that which penetrates the mind, but which we must penetrate to find out the sense.