Say Tell them what shall be the issue of all this, and tell it to them in my name. Shall it prosper? Can it be that such breach of faith and such ingratitude should prosper? No, it cannot be: God will never suffer it. Zedekiah, besides the obligation of an oath, was bound to the king of Babylon by the ties of gratitude, as he owed all he possessed to him. Shall he not pull up the roots thereof? Shall not Nebuchadnezzar, in return for this perfidiousness, destroy him and his kingdom? see 2 Kings 25:7. And cut off the fruit thereof Put his children and those of his nobles to the sword? It shall wither in all the leaves of her spring It shall wholly wither: not only the old branch shall wither, but its young shoots also: and all the promising hopes they had shall vanish: even without great power or many people God shall be on the side of the Chaldeans, and he does not need great power or many people to effect his purpose. He can as easily overturn a sinful king and kingdom as a man can root up a tree that cumbers the ground. The king of Babylon, therefore, God being with him, shall easily subdue the land of Judah, and shall not need a large human force to assist him. Yea, shall it not utterly wither when the east wind toucheth it? Here the prophet compares the Chaldean army, which should come against Judea, to a parching wind that blasts the fruits of the earth, withers the leaves of the trees, and makes every thing look naked and bare.
Related Commentaries of Ezekiel 17:9
Ezekiel 17:9-10
9 Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.
10 Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.