Ezekiel 17:2

King James Version (1611 Edition)

Sonne of man, put foorth a riddle, and speake a parable vnto the house of Israel,

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

Contemporary English Version
Ezekiel, son of man, tell the people of Israel the following story,

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,

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 And the word of the Lord came vnto mee, saying, ² Sonne of man, put foorth a riddle, and speake a parable vnto the house of Israel, ³ And say, Thus saith the Lord God, A great eagle with great wings, long wing'd, full of feathers, which had diuers colours, came vnto Lebanon, and tooke the highest branch of the Cedar. ⁴ Hee cropt off the top of his yong twigs, and caried it into a land of traffique; he set it in a city of merchants. ⁵ Hee tooke also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitfull field, he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree. ⁶ And it grew, and became a spreading Uine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were vnder him: so it became a Uine, and brought forth branches, and shot foorth sprigges. ⁷ There was also an other great eagle, with great wings and many feathers, and behold, this Uine did bend her rootes towards him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that hee might water it by the furrowes of her plantation. ⁸ It was planted in a good soile by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might beare fruit, that it might be a goodly Uine. ⁹ Say thou, Thus saith the Lord God; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull vp the rootes thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaues of her spring, euen without great power, or many people to plucke it vp by the rootes thereof. ¹⁰ Yea behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not vtterly wither, when the East wind toucheth it? it shal wither in the furrowes where it grew.

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
And I, behold, I establish my couenant with you, and with your seede after you:

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I wil blesse thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt bee a blessing.

Genesis 13:16
And I will make thy seede as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbred.

Genesis 15:18
In that same day the LORD made a couenant with Abram, saying; Unto thy seed haue I giuen this land from the riuer of Egypt vnto the great riuer, the riuer Euphrates:

Genesis 17:4
As for me, behold, my couenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

Genesis 17:6
And I will make thee exceeding fruitfull, and I will make nations of thee, and Kings shall come out of thee.

Genesis 17:8
And I will giue vnto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an euerlasting possession, and I will be their God.

Genesis 17:11
And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskinne; and it shal be a token of the couenant betwixt me and you.

Genesis 17:17
Then Abraham fell vpon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be borne vnto him that is an hundred yeeres old? and shal Sarah that is ninetie yeeres old, beare?

Genesis 17:18
And Abraham said vnto God, O that Ishmael might liue before thee.

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.