Mazmur 80:9-11

80:9 You cleared the ground for it; ¹ 

it took root, ² 

and filled the land.

80:10 The mountains were covered by its shadow,

the highest cedars ³  by its branches.

80:11 Its branches reached the Mediterranean Sea, ⁴ 

and its shoots the Euphrates River. ⁵ 

Yehezkiel 17:5-8

17:5 He took one of the seedlings ⁶  of the land,

placed it in a cultivated plot; ⁷ 

a shoot by abundant water,

like a willow he planted it.

17:6 It sprouted and became a vine,

spreading low to the ground; ⁸ 

its branches turning toward him, ⁹  its roots were under itself. ¹⁰ 

So it became a vine; it produced shoots and sent out branches.

17:7 “‘There was another great eagle ¹¹ 

with broad wings and thick plumage.

Now this vine twisted its roots toward him

and sent its branches toward him

to be watered from the soil where it was planted.

17:8 In a good field, by abundant waters, it was planted

to grow branches, bear fruit, and become a beautiful vine.

Yehezkiel 31:3-10

31:3 Consider Assyria, ¹²  a cedar in Lebanon, ¹³ 

with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade,

and extremely tall;

its top reached into the clouds.

31:4 The water made it grow;

underground springs made it grow tall.

Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted,

while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field. ¹⁴ 

31:5 Therefore it grew taller than all the trees of the field;

its boughs grew large and its branches grew long,

because of the plentiful water in its shoots. ¹⁵ 

31:6 All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs;

under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth,

in its shade all the great ¹⁶  nations lived.

31:7 It was beautiful in its loftiness, in the length of its branches;

for its roots went down deep to plentiful waters.

31:8 The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it,

nor could the fir trees ¹⁷  match its boughs;

the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches;

no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.

31:9 I made it beautiful with its many branches;

all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it.

31:10 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because it was tall in stature, and its top reached into the clouds, and it was proud of its height,

Daniel 4:10-15

4:10 Here are the visions of my mind ¹⁸  while I was on my bed.

While I was watching,

there was a tree in the middle of the land. ¹⁹ 

It was enormously tall. ²⁰ 

4:11 The tree grew large and strong.

Its top reached far into the sky;

it could be seen ²¹  from the borders of all the land. ²² 

4:12 Its foliage was attractive and its fruit plentiful;

on it there was food enough for all.

Under it the wild animals ²³  used to seek shade,

and in its branches the birds of the sky used to nest.

All creatures ²⁴  used to feed themselves from it.

4:13 While I was watching in my mind’s visions ²⁵  on my bed,

a holy sentinel ²⁶  came down from heaven.

4:14 He called out loudly ²⁷  as follows: ²⁸ 

‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches!

Strip off its foliage

and scatter its fruit!

Let the animals flee from under it

and the birds from its branches!

4:15 But leave its taproot ²⁹  in the ground,

with a band of iron and bronze around it ³⁰ 

surrounded by the grass of the field.

Let it become damp with the dew of the sky,

and let it live with ³¹  the animals in the grass of the land.

Matius 13:31

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

13:31 He gave ³²  them another parable: ³³  “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed ³⁴  that a man took and sowed in his field.

Yohanes 15:1

The Vine and the Branches

15:1 “I am the true vine ³⁵  and my Father is the gardener. ³⁶ 

Roma 11:16-24

11:16 If the first portion ³⁷  of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. ³⁸ 

11:17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in ³⁹  the richness of the olive root, 11:18 do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 11:19 Then you will say, “The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 11:20 Granted! ⁴⁰  They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear! 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. 11:22 Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God – harshness toward those who have fallen, but ⁴¹  God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; ⁴²  otherwise you also will be cut off. 11:23 And even they – if they do not continue in their unbelief – will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?

[80:9]  ¹ tn Heb “you cleared away before it.”

[80:9]  ² tn Heb “and it took root [with] its roots.”

[80:10]  ³ tn Heb “cedars of God.” The divine name אֵל (’al, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.

[80:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “to [the] sea.” The “sea” refers here to the Mediterranean Sea.

[80:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “to [the] river.” The “river” is the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia. Israel expanded both to the west and to the east.

[17:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “took of the seed of the land.” For the vine imagery, “seedling” is a better translation, though in its subsequent interpretation the “seed” refers to Zedekiah through its common application to offspring.

[17:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “a field for seed.”

[17:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “short of stature.”

[17:6]  ⁹ tn That is, the eagle.

[17:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “him,” i.e., the eagle.

[17:7]  ¹¹ sn The phrase another great eagle refers to Pharaoh Hophra.

[31:3]  ¹² sn Either Egypt, or the Lord compares Egypt to Assyria, which is described in vv. 3-17 through the metaphor of a majestic tree. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:185. Like Egypt, Assyria had been a great world power, but in time God brought the Assyrians down. Egypt should learn from history the lesson that no nation, no matter how powerful, can withstand the judgment of God. Rather than following the text here, some prefer to emend the proper name Assyria to a similar sounding common noun meaning “boxwood” (see Ezek 27:6), which would make a fitting parallel to “cedar of Lebanon” in the following line. In this case vv. 3-18 in their entirety refer to Egypt, not Assyria. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:121-27.

[31:3]  ¹³ sn Lebanon was know for its cedar trees (Judg 9:15; 1 Kgs 4:33; 5:6; 2 Kgs 14:9; Ezra 3:7; Pss 29:5; 92:12; 104:16).

[31:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Waters made it grow; the deep made it grow tall. It (the deep) was flowing with its rivers around the place it (the tree) was planted, it (the deep) sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.”

[31:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “when it sends forth.” Repointing the consonants of the Masoretic text would render the proposed reading “shoots” (cf. NRSV).

[31:6]  ¹⁶ tn Or “many.”

[31:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “cypress trees” (cf. NASB, NLT); NIV “pine trees.”

[4:10]  ¹⁸ tc The LXX lacks the first two words (Aram “the visions of my head”) of the Aramaic text.

[4:10]  ¹⁹ tn Instead of “in the middle of the land,” some English versions render this phrase “a tree at the center of the earth” (NRSV); NAB, CEV “of the world”; NLT “in the middle of the earth.” The Hebrew phrase can have either meaning.

[4:10]  ²⁰ tn Aram “its height was great.”

[4:11]  ²¹ tn Aram “its sight.” So also v. 17.

[4:11]  ²² tn Or “to the end of all the earth” (so KJV, ASV); NCV, CEV “from anywhere on earth.”

[4:12]  ²³ tn Aram “the beasts of the field.”

[4:12]  ²⁴ tn Aram “all flesh.”

[4:13]  ²⁵ tn Aram “the visions of my head.”

[4:13]  ²⁶ tn Aram “a watcher and a holy one.” The expression is a hendiadys; so also in v. 23. This “watcher” is apparently an angel. The Greek OT (LXX) in fact has ἄγγελος (angelo", “angel”) here. Theodotion simply transliterates the Aramaic word (’ir). The term is sometimes rendered “sentinel” (NAB) or “messenger” (NIV, NLT).

[4:14]  ²⁷ tn Aram “in strength.”

[4:14]  ²⁸ tn Aram “and thus he was saying.”

[4:15]  ²⁹ tn Aram “the stock of its root.” So also v. 23. The implication here is that although the tree is chopped down, it is not killed. Its life-giving root is spared. The application to Nebuchadnezzar is obvious.

[4:15]  ³⁰ sn The function of the band of iron and bronze is not entirely clear, but it may have had to do with preventing the splitting or further deterioration of the portion of the tree that was left after being chopped down. By application it would then refer to the preservation of Nebuchadnezzar’s life during the time of his insanity.

[4:15]  ³¹ tn Aram “its lot be.”

[13:31]  ³² tn Grk “put before.”

[13:31]  ³³ tn Grk “He set before them another parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[13:31]  ³⁴ sn The mustard seed was noted for its tiny size.

[15:1]  ³⁵ sn I am the true vine. There are numerous OT passages which refer to Israel as a vine: Ps 80:8-16, Isa 5:1-7, Jer 2:21, Ezek 15:1-8, 17:5-10, 19:10-14, and Hos 10:1. The vine became symbolic of Israel, and even appeared on some coins issued by the Maccabees. The OT passages which use this symbol appear to regard Israel as faithless to Yahweh (typically rendered as “Lord” in the OT) and/or the object of severe punishment. Ezek 15:1-8 in particular talks about the worthlessness of wood from a vine (in relation to disobedient Judah). A branch cut from a vine is worthless except to be burned as fuel. This fits more with the statements about the disciples (John 15:6) than with Jesus’ description of himself as the vine. Ezek 17:5-10 contains vine imagery which refers to a king of the house of David, Zedekiah, who was set up as king in Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah allied himself to Egypt and broke his covenant with Nebuchadnezzar (and therefore also with God), which would ultimately result in his downfall (17:20-21). Ezek 17:22-24 then describes the planting of a cedar sprig which grows into a lofty tree, a figurative description of Messiah. But it is significant that Messiah himself is not described in Ezek 17 as a vine, but as a cedar tree. The vine imagery here applies to Zedekiah’s disobedience. Jesus’ description of himself as the true vine in John 15:1 ff. is to be seen against this background, but it differs significantly from the imagery surveyed above. It represents new imagery which differs significantly from OT concepts; it appears to be original with Jesus. The imagery of the vine underscores the importance of fruitfulness in the Christian life and the truth that this results not from human achievement, but from one’s position in Christ. Jesus is not just giving some comforting advice, but portraying to the disciples the difficult path of faithful service. To some degree the figure is similar to the head-body metaphor used by Paul, with Christ as head and believers as members of the body. Both metaphors bring out the vital and necessary connection which exists between Christ and believers.

[15:1]  ³⁶ tn Or “the farmer.”

[11:16]  ³⁷ tn Grk “firstfruits,” a term for the first part of something that has been set aside and offered to God before the remainder can be used.

[11:16]  ³⁸ sn Most interpreters see Paul as making use of a long-standing metaphor of the olive tree (the root…the branches) as a symbol for Israel. See, in this regard, Jer 11:16, 19. A. T. Hanson, Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology, 121-24, cites rabbinic use of the figure of the olive tree, and goes so far as to argue that Rom 11:17-24 is a midrash on Jer 11:16-19.

[11:17]  ³⁹ tn Grk “became a participant of.”

[11:20]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “well!”, an adverb used to affirm a statement. It means “very well,” “you are correct.”

[11:22]  ⁴¹ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[11:22]  ⁴² tn Grk “if you continue in (the) kindness.”