Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘Your mother was like a vine, in your blood, planted by the waters. It was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
- BSB Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters.
- NKJV ‘Your mother was like a vine in your bloodline, Planted by the waters, Fruitful and full of branches Because of many waters.
- NASB ‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, Planted by the waters; It was fruitful and thick with branches Because of abundant waters.
- NLT “Your mother was like a vine planted by the water’s edge. It had lush, green foliage because of the abundant water.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The lament shifts to a second image: the mother as a fruitful vine planted by abundant waters. This recalls Judah's God-given prosperity and royal vigor.
Overview
The vine is a frequent biblical picture of Israel and its kingship (Psalm 80; Isaiah 5). Once planted by life-giving waters, the nation flourished with strength and fruitfulness under God's blessing. This bright picture of former glory makes the coming judgment all the more sorrowful, and it anticipates Christ, the true vine, in whom God's people finally bear lasting fruit (John 15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 80:8–11Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
- Deut 8:7For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
- Num 24:6–7As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.
- Matt 21:33–41Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
- Ezek 17:6And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.
- Ezek 15:2–8Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
- Hos 2:2Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
- Ps 89:25–29I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.
- Isa 5:1–4Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
- Deut 8:9A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
- Ezek 19:2And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
- Hos 2:5For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 19:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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