1 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, offer a riddle and tell a parable to the house of Israel. 3 Say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘A great eagle with broad wings, long feathers, with full plumage that was multihued, came to Lebanon and took the top of the cedar. 4 He plucked off its topmost shoot; he brought it to a land of merchants and planted it in a city of traders. 5 He took one of the seedlings of the land, placed it in a cultivated plot; a shoot by abundant water, like a willow he planted it.

1 Open your gates, Lebanon, so that the fire may consume your cedars. 2 Howl, fir tree, because the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees have been destroyed. Howl, oaks of Bashan, because the impenetrable forest has fallen. 3 Listen to the howling of shepherds, because their magnificence has been destroyed. Listen to the roaring of young lions, because the thickets of the Jordan have been devastated. 4 The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock set aside for slaughter.