Ezekiel 19

1 “And as for you, take up a lament over the leaders of Israel,

Moreover do you take up a lamentation for the prince of Israel,

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?

and say, Why is your mother become a whelp in the midst of lions? in the midst of lions she has multiplied her whelps.

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 whelps sprang forth; he became a lion, and learned to take prey, he devoured men.

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 heard a report of him; he was caught in their pit, and they brought him into the land of Egypt in chains.

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.

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.

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 in the midst of lions, he became a lion, and learned to take prey, he devoured men.

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 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.

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 set upon him from the countries round about, and they spread their nets upon him: he was taken in their pit.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

13 And now she has been transplanted into the desert, into a land impassable and dry.

And now they have planted her in the wilderness, in a dry land.

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 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.