< Ezekiel 19 >
1 And thou, take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2 and say, What was thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps in the midst of the young lions.
And say: Why did thy mother the lioness lie down among the lions, and bring up her whelps in the midst of young lions?
3 And she brought up one of her whelps; it became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men.
And she brought out one of her whelps, and he became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.
4 And the nations heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with nose-rings into the land of Egypt.
And the nations heard of him, and took him, but not without receiving wounds: and they brought him in chains into the land of Egypt.
5 And when she saw that she had waited [and] her hope was lost, she took another of her whelps, [and] made him a young lion.
But she seeing herself weakened, and that her hope was lost, took one of her young lions, and set him up for a lion.
6 And he went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey; he devoured men.
And he went up and down among the lions, and became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.
7 And he knew their [desolate] palaces, and he laid waste their cities, so that the land was desolate, and all it contained, by the noise of his roaring.
He learned to make widows, and to lay waste their cities: and the land became desolate, and the fulness thereof by the noise of his roaring.
8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.
And the nations Game together against him on every side out of the provinces, and they spread their net over him, in their wounds he was taken.
9 And they put him in a cage with nose-rings, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
And they put him into a cage, they brought him in chains to the king of Babylon: and they cast him into prison, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
10 Thy mother was as a vine, in thy rest, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the water: her fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters.
11 And it had strong rods for sceptres of them that bear rule, and its stature was exalted between the thick boughs; and it was conspicuous by its height with the multitude of its branches.
And she hath strong rods to make sceptres for them that bear rule, and her stature was exalted among the branches: and she saw her height in the multitude of her branches.
12 But it was plucked up in fury, it was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit; its strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
But she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground, and the burning wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods are withered, and dried up: the fire hath devoured her.
13 And now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground:
And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not passable, and dry.
14 and a fire is gone out of a rod of its branches, [which] hath devoured its fruit; so that it hath no strong rod to be a sceptre for ruling. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.
And a fire is gone out from a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit: so that she now hath no strong rod, to be a sceptre of rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.