Ezekiel 19

1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

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

2 And say: Why did thy mother the lioness lie down among the lions, and bring up her whelps in the midst of young lions?

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

3 And she brought out one of her whelps, and he became a lion: and he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.

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

4 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.

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 But she seeing herself weakened, and that her hope was lost, took one of her young lions, and set him up for 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 went up and down among the lions, and became a lion: and he learned to catch the 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 lay waste their cities: and the land became desolate, and the fulness thereof by the noise 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 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.

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 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.

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 Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the water: her fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters.

Thy 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 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.

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 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.

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 is transplanted into the desert, in a land not passable, and dry.

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

14 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.

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.