Israel Degraded

19 “Moreover (A)take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say:

‘What is your mother? A lioness:
She lay down among the lions;
Among the young lions she nourished her cubs.
She brought up one of her cubs,
And (B)he became a young lion;
He learned to catch prey,
And he devoured men.
The nations also heard of him;
He was trapped in their pit,
And they brought him with chains to the land of (C)Egypt.

‘When she saw that she waited, that her hope was lost,
She took (D)another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
(E)He roved among the lions,
And (F)became a young lion;
He learned to catch prey;
He devoured men.
[a]He knew their desolate places,
And laid waste their cities;
The land with its fullness was desolated
By the noise of his roaring.
(G)Then the nations set against him from the provinces on every side,
And spread their net over him;
(H)He was trapped in their pit.
(I)They put him in a cage with [b]chains,
And brought him to the king of Babylon;
They brought him in nets,
That his voice should no longer be heard on (J)the mountains of Israel.

10 ‘Your mother was (K)like a vine in your [c]bloodline,
Planted by the waters,
(L)Fruitful and full of branches
Because of many waters.
11 She had strong branches for scepters of rulers.
(M)She towered in stature above the thick branches,
And was seen in her height amid the [d]dense foliage.
12 But she was (N)plucked up in fury,
She was cast down to the ground,
And the (O)east wind dried her fruit.
Her strong branches were broken and withered;
The fire consumed them.
13 And now she is planted in the wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty land.
14 (P)Fire has come out from a rod of her branches
And devoured her fruit,
So that she has no strong branch—a scepter for ruling.’ ”

(Q)This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 19:7 LXX He stood in insolence; Tg. He destroyed its palaces; Vg. He learned to make widows
  2. Ezekiel 19:9 Or hooks
  3. Ezekiel 19:10 Lit. blood, so with MT, Syr., Vg.; LXX like a flower on a pomegranate tree; Tg. in your likeness
  4. Ezekiel 19:11 Or many branches

Lament for the Leaders of Israel

19 “And you, raise a lament about[a] the leaders of Israel, 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.
And she raised up one from her cubs;
    he became a fierce lion,
and he learned to tear prey;
    he ate[b] humans.[c]
And nations heard about him;
    in their pit he was caught,
and they brought him with hooks
    to the land of Egypt.
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.
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]
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.
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.
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

  1. Ezekiel 19:1 Or “over”
  2. Ezekiel 19:3 Or “devoured”
  3. Ezekiel 19:3 Hebrew “human”
  4. Ezekiel 19:5 Or “realized”
  5. Ezekiel 19:6 Or “devoured”
  6. Ezekiel 19:6 Hebrew “human”
  7. Ezekiel 19:7 Or “ravished/raped”; or “he ravaged their strongholds”
  8. Ezekiel 19:7 Literally “its fullness”
  9. Ezekiel 19:8 Literally “all around from the provinces”
  10. Ezekiel 19:9 Hebrew “in”
  11. Ezekiel 19:9 Literally “longer”
  12. Ezekiel 19:10 Or “in the vineyard”
  13. Ezekiel 19:10 Literally “fruitful”
  14. Ezekiel 19:10 Or “from waters abundant/many”
  15. Ezekiel 19:11 Literally “they became to her branches/rods of strength”
  16. Ezekiel 19:11 Or “for”
  17. Ezekiel 19:11 Or “among”
  18. Ezekiel 19:11 Or “visible”
  19. Ezekiel 19:13 Literally “a land of dryness and thirst”
  20. Ezekiel 19:14 Literally “a branch of strength”
  21. Ezekiel 19:14 Literally “she is for a lament”