Ezekiel 19
1 “And as for you, take up a lament over the leaders of Israel,
Take up now a song of grief for the ruler of Israel, and say,
2 and you shall say: Why did your mother, the lioness, recline among the male lions, and raise her little ones in the midst of young lions?
What was your mother? Like a she-lion among lions, stretched out among the young lions she gave food to her little ones.
3 And she led away one of her little ones, and he became a lion. And he learned to seize prey and to consume men.
And one of her little ones came to growth under her care, and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.
4 And the Gentiles heard about him, and they seized him, but not without receiving wounds. And they led him away in chains to the land of Egypt.
And the nations had news of him; he was taken in the hole they had made: and, pulling him with hooks, they took him into the land of Egypt.
5 Then, when she had seen that she was weakened, and that her hope had perished, she took one of her little ones, and appointed him as a lion.
Now when she saw that her hope was made foolish and gone, she took another of her little ones and made him into a young lion.
6 And he advanced among the lions, and he became a lion. And he learned to seize prey and to devour men.
And he went up and down among the lions and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.
7 He learned to make widows, and to lead their citizens into the desert. And the land, with its plenitude, was made desolate by the voice of his roaring.
And he sent destruction on their widows and made waste their towns; and the land and everything in it became waste because of the loud sound of his voice.
8 And the Gentiles came together against him, on every side, from the provinces, and they spread their net over him; by their wounds, he was captured.
Then the nations came against him from the kingdoms round about: their net was stretched over him and he was taken in the hole they had made.
9 And they put him into a cage; they led him in chains to the king of Babylon. And they cast him into a prison, so that his voice would no longer be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
They made him a prisoner with hooks, and took him to the king of Babylon; they put him in the strong place so that his voice might be sounding no longer on the mountains of Israel.
10 Your mother is like a vine, in your blood, planted by the water; her fruit and her branches have increased because of many waters.
Your mother was in comparison like a vine, planted by the waters: she was fertile and full of branches because of the great waters.
11 And her strong branches were made into scepters for the rulers, and her stature was exalted among the branches. And she saw her own loftiness among the multitude of her branches.
And she had a strong rod for a rod of authority for the rulers, and it became tall among the clouds and it was seen lifted up among the number of its branches.
12 But she was uprooted in wrath, and cast upon the ground. And the burning wind dried up her fruit. Her robust branches withered and were dried up. A fire consumed her.
But she was uprooted in burning wrath, and made low on the earth; the east wind came, drying her up, and her branches were broken off; her strong rod became dry, the fire made a meal of it.
13 And now she has been transplanted into the desert, into a land impassable and dry.
And now she is planted in the waste land, in a dry and unwatered country.
14 And a fire has gone forth from a rod of her branches, which has consumed her fruit. And there is no strong branch in her to become a scepter for the rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be a lamentation.”
And fire has gone out from her rod, causing the destruction of her branches, so that there is no strong rod in her to be the ruler's rod of authority. This is a song of grief, and it was for a song of grief.
