Ezekiel 17:2

Bishop's Bible

Thou sonne of man, put foorth a parable, & speake a prouerbe vnto the house of Israel,

Parallel Translations

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

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

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

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

English Standard Version
"Son of man, propound a riddle, and speak 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;

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

English Revised Version
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto 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,

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,

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,

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,

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.

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

George Lamsa Translation
Son of man, put forth a riddle and speak a parable 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;

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

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

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;

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.

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

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

Contextual Overview

¹ The worde of the Lord came vnto me, saying: ² Thou sonne of man, put foorth a parable, & speake a prouerbe vnto the house of Israel, ³ And say, Thus saith the Lorde God: There came a great Egle, with great winges, yea with a mightie long body, and ful of fethers of diuers colours, vppon the mount of Libanus, and toke the hyest braunche of a Cedar tree. ⁴ And brake of the top of his twigges, and caryed it into the lande of marchauntes, and set it in a citie of marchauntes. ⁵ He toke also of the seede of the land, and planted it in a fruiteful grounde, he brought it vnto great waters, and set it in an open trenche. ⁶ Then did it grow, and was a spreading vine, but lowe of stature, whose braunches turned towarde it, and the rootes of it were vnder it: thus there came of it a vine, and it brought foorth braunches, and shot foorth buddes. ⁷ But there was another Egle, a great one, whiche had great wynges and many fethers: and beholde, the rootes of this vine turned towardes it, and spread out her braunches towards it, that she might water it by the trenches of her plantation. ⁸ It was planted vpon a good soyle beside great waters, so that it should haue brought out braunches, & borne fruite, and haue ben a goodly vine. ⁹ Speake thou therfore, thus saith the Lorde God: Shall this vine prosper? shall he not pull vp the rootes therof, and destroy the fruite thereof, and cause them to dry? all the leaues of her bud shall wither without great power, or many people, to plucke it vp by the rootes thereof. ¹⁰ Behold, it was planted: Shall it prosper therfore? Shall it not be dryed vp and withered? when the east winde shall touche it, it shall wither in the trenches where it grewe.

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
Beholde, I, euen I establishe my couenaunt with you, and with your seede after you:

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of thee a great people, and wyll blesse thee, and make thy name great, that thou shalt be [euen] a blessyng.

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

Genesis 15:18
In that same day the Lorde made a couenaunt with Abram, saying: vnto thy seede haue I geuen this lande, fro the ryuer of Egypt, euen vnto the great ryuer, the ryuer of Euphrates.

Genesis 17:4
It is I, behold my couenaut [is] with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

Genesis 17:6
I wyll make thee exceedyng fruitefull, and wyll make nations of thee, yea and kynges shall spryng out of thee.

Genesis 17:8
And I wyll geue vnto thee and to thy seede after thee, the lande wherein thou art a strauger [euen] al the lande of Chanaan, for an euerlastyng possession, and wyll be their God.

Genesis 17:11
Ye shal circumcise the fleshe of your foreskyn, and it shalbe a token of the couenaunt betwixt me and you.

Genesis 17:17
But Abraham fell vppon his face, and laughed, and sayde in his heart: shall a chylde be borne vnto hym that is an hundreth yere olde? And shall Sara that is ninetie yere olde beare?

Genesis 17:18
And Abraham sayde vnto God: O that Ismael myght lyue in thy syght.

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.