Ezekiel 19

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

“And you, lift up a lamentation to princes 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 you have said: What [is] your mother? A lioness, She has crouched down among lions, She has multiplied her whelps in the midst of young lions.

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 she brings up one of her whelps, He has been a young lion, And he learns to tear prey, He has devoured man.

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 nations hear of him, He has been caught in their pit, And they bring him to 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 as she waited she sees that her hope has perished, And she takes one of her whelps, She has made him 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 goes up and down in the midst of lions, He has been a young lion, And he learns to tear prey, He has devoured man.

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 knows his forsaken habitations, And he has laid waste [to] their cities, And the land and its fullness is desolate, Because of 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.

And surrounding nations set against him from the provinces. And they spread out their net for him, He has been caught 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 prison—in chains, And they bring him to the king of Babylon, They bring him into bulwarks, So that his voice is not heard On mountains of Israel anymore.

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, like the vine in your blood, Is being planted by waters, She was bearing fruit and full of boughs, Because of many 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 has strong rods for scepters of rulers, And she is high in stature above—between thick branches, And it appears in its height In the multitude of its thin shoots.

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.

And she is plucked up in fury, She has been cast to the earth, And the east wind has dried up her fruit, [The] rod of her strength has been broken and withered, Fire has consumed it.

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

And now she is planted in a wilderness, In a dry and thirsty 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 goes forth from a rod of her boughs, It has devoured her fruit, And she has no rod of strength—a scepter to rule, A lamentation—and she has become for a lamentation!”