Ezekiel 17:22

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take a shoot from the lofty top of the cedar, and I will set it out. I will pluck a tender sprig from its topmost shoots, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Lord Yahweh speaks through Ezekiel to the exiled community and rebel leadership of Judah. This declaration follows the pronouncement that Jerusalem’s surviving troops will fall by the sword and scatter to every wind.

The words — צַמֶּרֶת (tza.Meret) translates literally as treetop or topmost shoot, and אֶרֶז ('Erez) means cedar. The text explicitly describes Yahweh taking a shoot from the cedar’s highest point and planting it on a high mountain.

The thread — The imagery of a divine shoot and a high mountain echoes Isaiah 11:1 and Psalms 2:6. These passages similarly track the motif of God establishing a chosen figure on a designated height.

Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that political survival and national restoration depend entirely on divine action, not human military strength. It requires the reader to submit to God’s authority as the sole agent of elevation and shelter.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:

Cross-references

Psalms 2:6 “I have installed My King on Zion, upon My holy mountain.”
Isaiah 11:1 Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
Isaiah 53:2 He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him.
Ezekiel 20:40 For on My holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, there the whole house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land. There I will accept them and will require your offerings and choice gifts, along with all your holy sacrifices.
Zechariah 6:12 And you are to tell him that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Here is a man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build the temple of the LORD.
Psalms 72:16 May there be an abundance of grain in the land; may it sway atop the hills. May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon, the people of its cities like the grass of the field.
Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
Jeremiah 33:15 In those days and at that time I will cause to sprout for David a righteous Branch, and He will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
Ezekiel 40:2 In visions of God He took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose southern slope was a structure that resembled a city.
Micah 4:1 In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it.