1 Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said,
2 “Son of man, I have a story with a hidden meaning for you to tell the family of Israel.
3 Tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: “‘A large eagle with big wings came to Lebanon. He had feathers covered with spots.
4 He broke the top out of that big cedar tree and brought it to Canaan. He set the branch down in a city of merchants.
5 Then the eagle took some of the seeds from Canaan. He planted them in good soil by a good river.
6 The seeds grew and became a grapevine. It was a good vine. The vine was not tall, but it spread to cover a large area. The vine grew stems, and smaller vines grew very long.