Ezekiel 19

¹Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

²And say: Why did thy mother the lioness lie down among the lions, and bring up her whelps in the midst of young lions?

³And she brought out one of her whelps, and he became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.

⁴And the nations heard of him, and took him, but not without receiving wounds: and they brought him in chains into the land of Egypt.

⁵But she seeing herself weakened, and that her hope was lost, took one of her young lions, and set him up for a lion.

⁶And he went up and down among the lions, and became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.

⁷He learned to make widows, and to lay waste their cities: and the land became desolate, and the fulness thereof by the noise of his roaring.

⁸And the nations came together against him on every side out of the provinces, and they spread their net over him, in their wounds he was taken.

⁹And they put him into a cage, they brought him in chains to the king of Babylon: and they cast him into prison, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

¹⁰Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the water: her fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters.

¹¹And she hath strong rods to make sceptres for them that bear rule, and her stature was exalted among the branches: and she saw her height in the multitude of her branches.

¹²But she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground, and the burning wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods are withered, and dried up: the fire hath devoured her.

¹³And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not passable, and dry.

¹⁴And a fire is gone out from a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit: so that she now hath no strong rod, to be a sceptre of rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.

Ezekiel 19

¹Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

²And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.

³And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.

⁴The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.

⁵Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

⁶And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.

⁷And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.

⁸Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.

⁹And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

¹⁰Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

¹¹And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.

¹²But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.

¹³And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.

¹⁴And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.