19 Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 2 and say, What was thy mother? A lioness: she couched among lions, in the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps. 3 And she brought up one of her whelps: he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men. 4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks unto the land of Egypt. 5 Now 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. 6 And he went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men. 7 And he knew their [a]palaces, and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, because of the noise of his roaring. 8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit. 9 And they put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
10 Thy mother was like a vine, [b]in thy blood, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. 11 And it had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and [c]their stature was exalted among the [d]thick boughs, and [e]they were seen in [f]their height with the multitude of [g]their branches. 12 But it was plucked up in fury, it was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit: its strong rods were broken off and withered; the fire consumed them. 13 And now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. 14 And fire is gone out of [h]the rods of its branches, it hath devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 19:7 Or, widows
- Ezekiel 19:10 Or, in thy likeness
- Ezekiel 19:11 Hebrew his.
- Ezekiel 19:11 Or, clouds
- Ezekiel 19:11 Hebrew he was.
- Ezekiel 19:11 Hebrew his.
- Ezekiel 19:11 Hebrew his.
- Ezekiel 19:14 Or, a rod