2 Kings 14:9

⁸The trees set out to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’

⁹“But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I stop producing my oil, with which they honor God and man by me, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’

¹⁰“The trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come and reign over us.’

¹¹“But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’

¹²“The trees said to the vine, ‘Come and reign over us.’

¹³“The vine said to them, ‘Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave back and forth over the trees?’

¹⁴“Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘Come and reign over us.’

¹⁵“The bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁸(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, I have guided her from my mother’s womb);

⁶When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were distressed), then the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in tombs, and in pits.

¹³Thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.

¹¹Therefore the LORD brought on them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

¹The LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the other poor. ²The rich man had very many flocks and herds, ³but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. ⁴A traveler came to the rich man, and he didn’t want to take of his own flock and of his own herd to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

¹⁸Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as his wife. Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle.

²As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

⁴⁹Then I said, “Ah Lord GOD! They say of me, ‘Isn’t he a speaker of parables?’”

³³He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he also spoke of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.