Ezekiel 19

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

And thou, —do thou lift up a lamentation for the princes 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, What a noble lioness was thy mother! among lions did she lie down, in the midst of young lions did she raise 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 she brought up one of her whelps: he became a young lion, and he learned to tear in pieces the prey; [even] men he devoured.

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 when nations heard of him, he was caught in their pit, and they brought him with nose-rings unto the land of Egypt.

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.

Now when she saw that she had long waited, [that] her hope was lost, she took another one of her whelps, and made him a young 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 young lion; and he learned to tear in pieces the prey; even men he devoured.

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 broke down their palaces, and their cities laid he in ruins: and then was terrified the land, with all that filled it, because of the noise 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 set themselves the nations against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread over him their net: in their pit was he caught.

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 a cage with nose-rings [in his nose], and they brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into strong-holds, in order that his voice should no more 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 like a vine, if I compare thee to aught, planted by the waters: fruitful and full of boughs was she by reason of many waters.

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 had strong branches [fit] for the sceptres of rulers, and her stature grew up high between the thick-branched [trees], and she was seen through her height by means of the multitude of her tendrils.

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 plucked up in fury, to the ground was she cast down, and the east wind dried up her fruit: and torn off and dried up were her strong branches, a fire consumed them.

13 And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not passable, and dry.

And now is she planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty 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 branch of her boughs, and hath devoured her fruit, so that there is no more on her a strong branch for a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and it is become a lamentation.