What Does Ezekiel 17:3 Mean?
And say, Thus says the Lord GOD. A great eagle, great of wing, long in the pinion, full of embroidered color, of many hues, came to Lebanon, and took the crown of the cedar.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “wing” also means an outer edge, so the eagle’s wings suggest a reach that extends all the way to the cedar’s crown.
THE MEANING
A vast force reaches the highest place and takes its crown. The image makes height visible but not invulnerable: even what stands highest remains within reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that reaching the top makes you untouchable gives way: height does not place the cedar beyond reach.
THE ROOT
הַכְּנָפַיִם
hakkenafayim
GROWS FROM
כנף
Wing; an extending edge or outermost part.
Hebrew kānāf names both a wing and an edge or extremity. The eagle’s vast wings suggest more than flight: they mark a reach that extends outward until the cedar’s crown lies within its grasp.
ALSO GROWS
kānāf: A wing, the part that spreads outward.
כָּנָף
The eagle’s size is expressed through the span of its wings.
kānāf: The edge, corner, or farthest part of something.
כָּנָף
This sense lets the wing image carry an additional sense of reach toward the outermost point.
וַיִּקַּח
wayyiqqaḥ
GROWS FROM
לקח
To take, receive, or grasp.
“took” in this verse is wayyiqqaḥ. The root’s range includes taking hold and receiving. The eagle does more than arrive: it takes the cedar’s highest growth into its possession.
ALSO GROWS
lāqaḥ: To take, grasp, or receive something.
לָקַח
This is the action that turns the eagle’s arrival into a seizure of the cedar’s summit.
leqaḥ: Teaching or instruction, something received or taken in.
לֶקַח
The shared root links grasping with receiving; the verse’s immediate image is a force taking hold of what stands highest.
אֶרֶךְ הָאֵבֶר
ʾerekh hāʾēver
GROWS FROM
ארך
To be long or extended.
“long in the pinion” in this verse is ʾerekh hāʾēver. Here extension is spatial: the eagle is long-winged, with reach across distance. The same root can describe an extended delay, linking length across space with length across time.
ALSO GROWS
ʾorekh: Length, span, or duration.
אֹרֶךְ
The root gives the eagle’s long wing its sense of extended reach.
ʾerekh appayim: Slow to flare; literally, long of nostrils.
אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם
The same root stretches across time in this phrase, while the verse stretches the eagle’s reach across space.
THE PATTERN
Height offers no immunity when a stronger force can reach what stands above it.
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; and the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts will sever the bough with terror; and the tall of stature will be cut down, and the high will be brought low.And whoever lifts themselves high will be brought low, and whoever makes themselves low will be lifted high.THE THREAD
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; and the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.Both verses name the cedar of Lebanon and place its height within reach of a greater force. Here the eagle takes the cedar’s crown; Psalm 29:5 extends the image to the breaking of the cedars themselves.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us