Jezekiel 19
1 Moreover do you take up a lamentation for the prince of Israel,
[Yahweh said to me, “Ezekiel], sing a sad funeral [a which will be a parable] [two of the] kings of Israel.
2 and say, Why is your mother become a whelp in the midst of lions? in the midst of lions she has multiplied her whelps.
Say [to the Israeli people], ‘[It is as though] [MET] your mother was a brave female lion who raised her cubs among [other] lions.
3 And one of her whelps sprang forth; he became a lion, and learnt to take prey, he devoured men.
She taught one of them to [for other animals to kill], and he [even] learned [kill and] eat people.
4 And the nations heard a report of him; he was caught in their pit, and they brought him into the land of Egypt in chains.
[When people from other] nations heard about him, they trapped him in a pit. Then they used hooks to drag him to Egypt.
5 And she saw that he was driven away from her, [and] her hope [of him] perished, and she took another of her whelps; she made him a lion.
His mother waited for him [to return], but [soon] she stopped hoping/expecting [that he would return]. So she raised another cub who [also] became very fierce.
6 And he went up and down in the midst of lions, he became a lion, and learnt to take prey, he devoured men.
He hunted along with [other] [for animals to kill], and he even learned [kill and] eat people.
7 And he prowled in his boldness and laid waste their cities, and made the land desolate, and the fullness of it, by the voice of his roaring.
He destroyed forts, and he ruined cities. When he roared [loudly], everyone was terrified.
8 Then the nations set upon him from the countries round about, and they spread their nets upon him: he was taken in their pit.
So [people of other] nations planned to kill him, and men came from many places to spread out a net for him, and they caught him in a trap.
9 And they put him in chains and in a cage, [and] he came to the king of Babylon; and he cast him into prison, that his voice should not be heard on the mountains of Israel.
They tied him with chains and took him to Babylonia. And [there] he was locked in a prison, with the result that [no one on] the hills of Israel ever heard him roar again.’ [Also, say to the Israeli people, ]
10 Your mother was as a vine and as a blossom on a pomegranate tree, planted by water: her fruit and her shoot abounded by reason of much water.
‘[It is as though] [SIM] your mother was a grapevine that was planted along a stream. There was plenty of water, so it had lots of branches and produced [a lot of] grapes.
11 And she became a rod for a tribe of princes, and was elevated in her bulk in the midst of [other] trees, and she saw her bulk in the multitude of her branches.
That grapevine grew and became taller than all the nearby trees; [everyone could] see that it was very strong and healthy. And those branches were good for making scepters that symbolize the power/ [of a king].
12 But she was broken down in wrath, she was cast upon the ground, and the east wind dried up her choice [branches]: vengeance came upon them, and the rod of her strength was withered; fire consumed it.
[Yahweh] became very angry, so he pulled up the vine by its roots and threw it on the ground, where the [very hot] winds from the desert dried up all its fruit. The strong branches wilted and were burned in a fire.
13 And now they have planted her in the wilderness, in a dry land.
Now that vine has been planted in a hot, dry desert.
14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her choice [boughs], and has devoured her; and there was no rod of strength in her. Her race is become a parable of lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.
A fire started to burn its stem, and then started to burn the branches and burned all the grapes. [Now] not [even] one strong branch remains; they will never become scepters for a king.’ That funeral song must be sung very sadly.”
