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Israel Degraded

19 And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say:

What a lioness was your mother
    among lions!
She couched in the midst of young lions,
    rearing her whelps.
And she brought up one of her whelps;
    he became a young lion,
and he learned to catch prey;
    he devoured men.
The nations sounded an alarm against him;
    he was taken in their pit;
and they brought him with hooks
    to the land of Egypt.
When she saw that she was baffled,[a]
    that her hope was lost,
she took another of her whelps
    and made him a young lion.
He prowled among the lions;
    he became a young lion,
and he learned to catch prey;
    he devoured men.
And he ravaged their strongholds,[b]
    and laid waste their cities;
and the land was appalled and all who were in it
    at the sound of his roaring.
Then the nations set against him
    snares[c] on every side;
they spread their net over him;
    he was taken in their pit.
With hooks they put him in a cage,
    and brought him to the king of Babylon;
    they brought him into custody,
that his voice should no more be heard
    upon the mountains of Israel.

10 Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard[d]
    transplanted by the water,
fruitful and full of branches
    by reason of abundant water.
11 Its strongest stem became
    a ruler’s scepter;
it towered aloft
    among the thick boughs;
it was seen in its height
    with the mass of its branches.
12 But the vine was plucked up in fury,
    cast down to the ground;
the east wind dried it up;
    its fruit was stripped off,
its strong stem was withered;
    the fire consumed it.
13 Now it is transplanted in the wilderness,
    in a dry and thirsty land.
14 And fire has gone out from its stem,
    has consumed its branches and fruit,
so that there remains in it no strong stem,
    no scepter for a ruler.

This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 19:5 Heb had waited
  2. Ezekiel 19:7 Tg Compare Theodotion: Heb knew his widows
  3. Ezekiel 19:8 Cn: Heb from the provinces
  4. Ezekiel 19:10 Cn: Heb in your blood

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