Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageYet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the sky can perch in its shade."
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.Gyet when sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all the garden plants and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the skies can nest in its shade."
KJV
King James VersionBut when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleBut after it is planted, it grows to be the largest of all garden plants and puts forth great branches, so that the birds of the air nest in its shade.”
Footnotes
"τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνοῦν" — birds of the sky nesting in the branches of a great tree — is a deliberate intertextual echo of Ezekiel 17:23 and 31:6 and Daniel 4:12, where a cosmic tree sheltering all the birds of the air represents an empire that encompasses every nation. The Kingdom that begins as the tiniest seed becomes the new world-tree under which all peoples find refuge. "κατασκηνοῦν" specifically means to take up residence, to make a home — not merely to perch. The F.O.G renders οὐρανοῦ as "skies" (its literal meteorological sense); the F.O.G Message uses "sky." Both preserve "nest" to convey belonging, not mere visitation.
