Ezekiel 17:12-15

17:12 “Say to the rebellious house of Israel: ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Say: ‘See here, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took her king and her officials prisoner and brought them to himself in Babylon. 17:13 He took one from the royal family, made a treaty with him, and put him under oath. He then took the leaders of the land 17:14 so it would be a lowly kingdom which could not rise on its own but must keep its treaty with him in order to stand. 17:15 But this one from Israel’s royal family rebelled against the king of Babylon by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?


tn The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.

sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).

sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.

map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

tn Or “descendants”; Heb “seed” (cf. v. 5).

tn Heb “caused him to enter into an oath.”

tn Heb “he”; the referent (the member of the royal family, v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.