Ezekiel 19 (New International Version)

Ezekiel 19

A Lament for Israel's Princes

 ¹ "Take up a lament concerning the princes of Israel ² and say:
       " 'What a lioness was your mother
       among the lions!
       She lay down among the young lions
       and reared her cubs.

 ³ She brought up one of her cubs,
       and he became a strong lion.
       He learned to tear the prey
       and he devoured men.

 ⁴ The nations heard about him,
       and he was trapped in their pit.
       They led him with hooks
       to the land of Egypt.

 ⁵ " 'When she saw her hope unfulfilled,
       her expectation gone,
       she took another of her cubs
       and made him a strong lion.

 ⁶ He prowled among the lions,
       for he was now a strong lion.
       He learned to tear the prey
       and he devoured men.

 ⁷ He broke down ^[a] their strongholds
       and devastated their towns.
       The land and all who were in it
       were terrified by his roaring.

 ⁸ Then the nations came against him,
       those from regions round about.
       They spread their net for him,
       and he was trapped in their pit.

 ⁹ With hooks they pulled him into a cage
       and brought him to the king of Babylon.
       They put him in prison,
       so his roar was heard no longer
       on the mountains of Israel.

 ¹⁰ " 'Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard ^[b]
       planted by the water;
       it was fruitful and full of branches
       because of abundant water.

 ¹¹ Its branches were strong,
       fit for a ruler's scepter.
       It towered high
       above the thick foliage,
       conspicuous for its height
       and for its many branches.

 ¹² But it was uprooted in fury
       and thrown to the ground.
       The east wind made it shrivel,
       it was stripped of its fruit;
       its strong branches withered
       and fire consumed them.

 ¹³ Now it is planted in the desert,
       in a dry and thirsty land.

 ¹⁴ Fire spread from one of its main ^[c] branches
       and consumed its fruit.
       No strong branch is left on it
       fit for a ruler's scepter.'
      This is a lament and is to be used as a lament."