Ezekiel 19
1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
And thou, lift up a lamentation unto 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 thou hast said: What [is] thy mother? — a lioness, Among lions she hath crouched down, In the midst of young lions she hath 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 she bringeth up one of her whelps, A young lion it hath been, And it learneth to tear prey, man it hath 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 hear of it do nations, In their pit it hath been caught, And they bring it in with chains 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.
And she seeth, that stayed — perished hath her hope, And she taketh one of her whelps, A young lion she hath made it.
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 it goeth up and down in the midst of lions, A young lion it hath been, And it learneth to tear prey, man it hath 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 it knoweth his forsaken habitations, And their cities it hath laid waste, And desolate is the land and its fulness, Because of 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.
And set against it do nations Round about from the provinces. And they spread out for it their net, In their pit it hath been 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 it in prison — in chains, And they bring it unto the king of Babylon, They bring it in unto bulwarks, So that its voice is not heard any more On 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 [is] as a vine in thy blood by waters planted, Fruitful and full of boughs it hath been, Because 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 it hath strong rods for sceptres of rulers, And high is its stature above thick branches, And it appeareth in its height In the multitude of its thin shoots.
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.
And it is plucked up in fury, To the earth it hath been cast, And the east wind hath dried up its fruit, Broken and withered hath been the rod of its strength, Fire hath consumed it.
13 And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not passable, and dry.
And now — it is planted in a wilderness, In a land dry and thirsty.
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 go forth doth fire from a rod of its boughs, Its fruit it hath devoured, And it hath no rod of strength — a sceptre to rule, Lamentation it [is] — and it is for a lamentation!'
