Lament for the Leaders of Israel
19 “And you, raise a lament about[a] the leaders of Israel, 2 and you must say,
‘What a lioness was your mother
among the lions.
She lay down in the midst of young lions,
and she reared her lion cubs.
3 And she raised up one from her cubs;
he became a fierce lion,
and he learned to tear prey;
he ate[b] humans.[c]
4 And nations heard about him;
in their pit he was caught,
and they brought him with hooks
to the land of Egypt.
5 And she saw[d] that she was waiting in vain;
her hope was destroyed,
and she took one from her cubs,
and she made him a fierce lion.
6 And he walked about in the midst of lions;
he became a fierce lion,
and he learned to tear prey;
he ate[e] humans.[f]
7 And he knew their widows,[g]
and he devastated their cities,
and the land was appalled, and everyone in it[h]
at the sound of his roar.
8 And nations set out against him
from the surrounding provinces,[i]
and they spread their net over him,
and he was caught in their pit.
9 And they put him in a collar with hooks,
and they brought him to the king of Babylon;
they brought him into[j] a prison,
so that his voice would not be heard any longer[k]
on the mountains of Israel.
10 Your mother was like the vine in your vineyard;[l]
planted fruitfully[m] beside water,
and it was full of branches
from many waters.[n]
11 And she produced branches of strength[o]
to[p] scepters of rulers;
its height became tall
between[q] thick foliage,
and it was seen[r] because of its tallness
among the abundance of its branches.
12 But it was uprooted in rage;
it was thrown to the earth,
and the east wind dried up its fruit;
they were stripped off,
and its strong branch dried up;
fire consumed it.
13 And now it is planted in the desert,
in a dry and thirsty land.[s]
14 And so fire has gone out from the stem of its branches;
its fruit it has consumed,
and there was not in it a strong branch,[t]
a scepter for ruling.’”
This is a lament, and it will be used as a lament.[u]
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 19:1 Or “over”
- Ezekiel 19:3 Or “devoured”
- Ezekiel 19:3 Hebrew “human”
- Ezekiel 19:5 Or “realized”
- Ezekiel 19:6 Or “devoured”
- Ezekiel 19:6 Hebrew “human”
- Ezekiel 19:7 Or “ravished/raped”; or “he ravaged their strongholds”
- Ezekiel 19:7 Literally “its fullness”
- Ezekiel 19:8 Literally “all around from the provinces”
- Ezekiel 19:9 Hebrew “in”
- Ezekiel 19:9 Literally “longer”
- Ezekiel 19:10 Or “in the vineyard”
- Ezekiel 19:10 Literally “fruitful”
- Ezekiel 19:10 Or “from waters abundant/many”
- Ezekiel 19:11 Literally “they became to her branches/rods of strength”
- Ezekiel 19:11 Or “for”
- Ezekiel 19:11 Or “among”
- Ezekiel 19:11 Or “visible”
- Ezekiel 19:13 Literally “a land of dryness and thirst”
- Ezekiel 19:14 Literally “a branch of strength”
- Ezekiel 19:14 Literally “she is for a lament”